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THE SANDMAN; 
HIS ANIMAL STORIES 


Sandman Stories 

By William J. Hopkins 

The Sandmem: His Farm Stories $1.30 
The Sandman: More Farm Stories 1.50 
The Sandman: His Ship Stories 1.50 
The Sandman: His Sea Stories 1.50 

By Harry W. Frees 

The Sandman: His Animal Stories $1.50 

THE PAGE COMPANY 
53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. 




IN A LITTLE WHILE THEY WERE BOTH HARD AT WORK ” 

{See page $2) 




gandmar) : 
His Animal 
Stories ^ ^ 


Harrjr W^^rees 

II 


With Thirty'-two Illustrations 
From Life Photographs Taken by* 
The c^luthor 



Boston 

The Page Company' 


MDCCCCXVI 




Copyright, 1916, 

By The Page Company V 


All rights reserved 


First Impression, November, 1916 


XrikUHtfolTOtt lUkt 

Ooixffrcjii to D. C. SkIcIIo 
tiibrary for uso therein 
6»c. 69. CoDVrI<?rhj^la'^- 


NOV 20 1916 '' 


THE COLONIAL PRESS 

C. H. SIMONDS COMPANY, BOSTON, U. S. A. 

©a,A446493 


ijtttif Anna 

Qlljia Unlum? ta 
Affjfrtionatflg 
Jnarribrb 






CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I The Kitty Children Story 13 

II The Playmate Story 27 

III The Lazy Puppy Story 41 

IV The Farm Story 50 

V The Birthday Party Story 64 

VI The Oyster Pie Story 77 

VII The Circus Story 86 

VIII The Camping Story loi 

IX The Flower Story 116 

X The School Story 130 

XI The Dentist Story 144 

XII The Jack Frost Story 153 

XIII The Blizzard Story 167 

XIV The Christmas Story 180 

XV The Santa Claus Story 196 

XVI The Celebration Story 208 

XVII The Popcorn Story ........ 226 

XVIII The Garden Story 239 

XIX The Doll Story 250 

XX The Mouse and the Picture Story . . . 262 



4 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


l. T 

In a little while they were both hard at work ” 

(See page ^2) Frontispiece 


“ Beat IT WITH A STICK JUST AS HE WAS TOLD ” . . . I9 

“Went on working harder than ever” .... 21 

“ Sat in the middle of the room with the lighted 

CANDLE BETWEEN THEM ” 37 

“ He turned the hands of the clock back” ... 47 

“ There was a nest full of eggs ” 57 

“ She pulled him safely to the top” 61 

“ Sprinkled the powder out of the can all over her 

NOSE ” 71 

“ TiLLIE had hers wrapped up in paper” .... 75 

“ Betty took it out of the oven ” 83 

“Perched themselves behind the brick wall” . . 91 

“ Laddie gave a leap and dove through it head first ” 99 
“Stuck two forked sticks into the ground” . . 107 

“Tried to push it off with the long pole” . . .113 

“Billy had climbed up after the hollyhocks” . . 121 

“She finally had her paws full” 127 

“ Miss Pointer called up the little puppy class in 

spelling” 135 

“She sent Billy Cuddles out to ring the bell” . 137 
“Sent him right off to Doctor Bowser” .... 151 
“Among them was Jackie Bowser, the little puppy 


157 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

“Curly looked out of the window” 171 

“ Promised to drink it a little later ” 179 

“ Even that sounded a little bit selfish and 

GREEDY ” 19 1 

“ Started back home with the tree over his shoul- 
der ” 195 

“ He disappeared down the little chimney” . . . 203 

“ And, sure enough, there was a Christmas tree ” 207 
“ A little float showing a tiny schoolhouse ” . . 219 

“ And all around her were flowers ” 225 

“ She found him standing in front of the stove” . 235 

“ Planted his little tree near one corner of the 
chicken house ” 245 

“ Rocking herself in her little rocking chair ” . 253 

“ Started in to paint a little house ” 267 


THE SANDMAN: HIS 
ANIMAL STORIES 


I 

THE KITTY CHILDREN STORY 

CE upon a time there was 



a little town in Ani- 
mal Land called Kitty- 
cat Town. And right 
through the middle of 
Kittycat Town ran a 


pretty little street called Kittyway Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 


13 


14 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses, and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It was 
here the doggie mothers lived together with 
their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just 
the same as all other little boys and girls. 
And sometimes they were good and some- 
times they were naughty. 


THE KITTY CHILDREN STORY 


15 


In one of the little brick houses on Kitty- 
way Lane lived a pussycat mother by the 
name of Mother Cuddles. She had eight 
little kitty children, and four of them were 
boys, and four of them were girls. The four 
little kitty boys were called Buster, Billy, 
Tommy and Teddy; and the four little kitty- 
girls were called Betty, Tessie, Dolly and 
Dotty. 

Early one morning after her kitty children 
had eaten their breakfast. Mother Cuddles 
told them that she was going away on a visit 
for the day and that they would have to keep 
house all by themselves while she was gone. 
And she told them to be good little kittens 
and not get into any mischief. And, of 
course, they all promised to be very, very 
good. 

Dolly will look after things while I am 


1 6 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

away,” Mother Cuddles told them. Of 
course, all of you can help with the work,” 
she added, ‘‘ but I want you to listen to what 
Dolly tells you, because she will be the lit- 
tle mother until I return.” 

And because Dolly was to be the little 
mother while Mother Cuddles was away, the 
other little Cuddles jumped up and down 
and clapped their paws with delight. 

So, a little later. Mother Cuddles kissed 
them all good-bye and started away. And 
every one of her eight little kitty children 
went along out with her to the front gate 
and watched her go down the street until she 
was clear out of sight. 

When they went back into the house again 
Dolly told them what each one was to do. 
Buster was told to take the strip of carpet 
out of the sitting-room and hang it on the 


THE KITTY CHILDREN STORY 


1/ 


line out in the yard. And then he was to 
clean the dust out of it by beating it with a 
stick. 

And because Buster would have much 
rather done something else he grumbled just 
a little bit. But all the same he took the 
carpet out and hung it on the line and beat it 
with a stick just as he was told. 

And while Buster was beating the carpet 
Dolly sent his little kitty brother, Tommy, 
out to whitewash the garden fence. And be- 
cause Tommy would have much rather done 
something else he grumbled just a little bit. 
But all the same he picked up the bucket full 
of whitewash and the long-handled brush, 
and went down through the garden until he 
came to the fence. And after he had dipped 
the long-handled brush into the bucket of 
whitewash he started in. 


1 8 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

At first it seemed more like play than work, 
but before very long the sun began to grow 
hotter and the long-handled brush seemed to 
grow heavier. And not only that but the 
whitewash spattered all over his face and 
paws and some of it got into his eyes and 
made them smart. And the fence never 
seemed so long as it did just then. He had 
only finished one panel of it when along 
came Billy, his little kitty brother. 

But Tommy pretended not to see him and 
went on working harder than ever. And be- 
cause he didn’t want Billy to know that 
whitewashing a fence was hard work for a 
little kitty boy he began to whistle a tune. 

So it was no wonder that Billy soon began 
to feel that whitewashing a fence must be 
lots of fun, especially if it made one feel like 
whistling. 


THE KITTY CHILDREN STORY 


19 



BEAT IT WITH A STICK JUST AS HE WAS TOLD ” 


20 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

‘‘ Let me try it a while/’ he said to Tommy. 

But Tommy shook his head as he dipped 
the long-handled brush very carefully into 
the bucket of whitewash. 

'' ril give you my new top if you’ll let me 
do the rest of it,” coaxed Billy. 

So Billy handed the long-handled brush 
over to Tommy, and putting the top in his 
pocket went on into the house. 

But just as he stepped into the kitchen 
Dolly saw him and told him to go upstairs 
and help his little kitty sister, Tessie, shake 
up the pillows so that they would be nice 
and soft to sleep on. And when he got up- 
stairs he was just a little bit cross because he 
didn’t want to do any more work, but would 
have much rather curled himself up in the 
big armchair and taken a nap. 

So when he took hold of one end of the 


THE KITTY CHILDREN STORY 


21 



22 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

pillow with his little sister, Tessie, he gave it 
such a hard shake that he tore a big hole right 
in the middle of it. And, of course, the 
feathers flew all over the room, so that poor 
Tessie burst out crying for fear Mother Cud- 
dles might think it was her fault. 

When Tessie told Dolly what Billy had 
done the little kitty girl felt very sorry that 
she had to tell Mother Cuddles how naughty 
he had been. 

“ Maybe if I sew up the tear so that it 
don’t show,” suggested Tessie, “you won’t 
have to tell Mother Cuddles.” 

“ Maybe I won’t,” agreed Dolly. 

Now Tessie had no sooner gone down- 
stairs with the torn pillow before Billy be- 
gan to feel very sorry for what he had done. 
So when his little kitty sister came back he 
helped her gather up all the feathers off the 


THE KITTY CHILDREN STORY 


23 


floor, and even held the pillow while she 
sewed it shut. 

When Mother Cuddles returned home that 
afternoon she found all the work done and 
everything as bright as a new pin. And 
when she asked Dolly how all the others had 
behaved the little kitty girl never said a 
word about Billy tearing the pillow. For 
Tessie had sewed it up so carefully that one 
could scarcely tell it was ever torn. 

‘‘ Fm glad to hear you’ve been such good 
little kittens,” Mother Cuddles told them. 
“ And because you haven’t been a bit 
naughty and listened to what Dolly told 
you. I’m going to let you have a party next 
Saturday afternoon and you can invite all 
of your little friends.” 

Of course her eight little kitty children 
were fairly delighted to know they might 


24 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

have a party, and all of them made up their 
minds to ask a number of their little friends 
to come. And the first one whom Dolly 
asked was a little kitty girl by the name of 
Mazie Dobbie. 

‘'You’ll come, won’t you, Mazie?” 
coaxed Dolly. “ We’re going to have the 
grandest time, and just think what Mother 
Cuddles has promised us — a can of ice- 
cream! ” 

“ I’d like to come ever so much,” said 
Mazie, “ if Mother Dobbie will let me.” 

The next moment she had turned away and 
Dolly saw her look down at her poor shabby 
dress and wipe the tears out of her eyes with 
her paw. The little kitty girl knew as well 
as Mother Dobbie, herself, how poor they 
were and that she would have no better dress 
to wear to the party than the one she had on. 


THE KITTY CHILDREN STORY 


25 


Why, Mazie, what makes you cry? ” 
asked Dolly, running up to her, clasping her 
around the neck with both little paws. 

’Cause I can’t come to the party,” sobbed 
her little kitty friend. ‘'Mother Dobbie 
wouldn’t like me to come in an old patched 
dress.” 

And for fear she might start to cry too, 
Dolly hurried off home as fast as she could 
go. And as soon as she got there she went 
right upstairs to pick out one of her dresses 
to give to Mazie, so that she could come to 
the party. There were several of them 
hanging on their hooks in the closet and it 
took her quite a little while to make up her 
mind which one to give away. 

“ Maybe she’d like the pink one the best,” 
she said to herself. 

So Dolly took the little pink dress and 


26 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

carried it downstairs to show Mother Cud- 
dles and ask her whether she might give it to 
Mazie to wear to the party. 

‘‘ Are you quite sure you want to give it 
away?” asked Mother Cuddles. 

And Dolly shook her fluffy little head so 
decidedly that Mother Cuddles could not 
help but smile at her eager little kitty girl. 

Just think how badly Fd feel if I had 
nothing to wear to a party but an old patched 
dress,” said Dolly. Wouldn’t you feel 
the same way, Mother Cuddles? ” she asked. 

‘‘ I guess I would,” admitted Mother Cud- 
dles. '' So run along and give Mazie the 
dress and tell her to be sure and come to 
the party and help eat the ice-cream.” 

And that’s just what Mazie did, looking 
too sweet for anything in her new pink dress. 

And that’s all. 


II 


THE PLAYMATE STORY 

NCE upon a time there was 
a little town in Ani- 
mal Land called Kitty- 
cat Town. And right 
through the middle of 
Kittycat Town ran a 
pretty little street called Kittyway Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 



27 


28 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses, and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around were just the same with a 
fence in front to shut them in. It was here 
the doggie mothers lived together with their 
little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

In one of the little brick houses of the dog- 
gie folks lived Mother Beagle and her fam- 
ily of two little puppy children. One of 


THE PLAYMATE STORY 


29 


them was a little puppy boy by the name of 
Tommy and his little puppy sister was called 
Mamie. 

One day Mother Beagle went upstairs to 
the attic to get something and as soon as she 
opened the door at the head of the stairs 
she threw up her paws and stood still. 

My goodness! she exclaimed. ‘‘ Isn’t 
it dreadful how children will tear things up ! 
I never saw such puppies in all my life.” 

Now Mother Beagle’s little puppies 
weren’t a bit worse than Mother Cuddles’ 
little kittens or any of the other little ani- 
mal boys and girls. They all liked to play, 
and nothing pleased them better than to have 
a room all to themselves to romp about in. 

So most of the animal mothers allowed 
their children to play in the attic, and it was 
very, very hard for the little folks to keep 


30 THE SANDMAN: HiS ANIMAL STORIES 

things in order. If they played Indian they 
had to pull out a number of chairs for horses 
and use a couple of bed quilts for tents. 
And it was the same way with other games. 

Well, anyway Mother Beagle went down- 
stairs and told Mamie that she would have 
to clean the attic as soon as she had her din- 
ner. 

“ And mind that you do it right,” said 
Mother Beagle. The floor will have to 
be scrubbed and all the pictures dusted. 
And don’t forget to brush down the cob- 
webs.” 

“ I’ll do it ever so carefully,” promised 
Mamie. 

A little later the little puppy girl hurried 
over to the Cuddleses to see her little friend, 
Tessie. 

'' Oh, Tessie,” she said to her little kitty 


THE PLAYMATE STORY 


31 


playmate, ‘‘ Mother Beagle wants me to 
clean the attic this afternoon and I’ve come 
over to ask you to help me. We’ll have lots 
of fun if you do.” 

“ Shall I bring my little broom? ” asked 
Tessie'. 

“ Oh, yes, bring your little broom,” re- 
plied Mamie, “ we have to sweep up all the 
dust, you know.” 

“ Wouldn’t it be nice,” suggested the lit- 
tle puppy girl while they were hunting for 
Tessie’s broom, “ if Mother Cuddles would 
let you stay at our house all night? ” 

“ Let’s ask her! ” cried the little kitty girl, 
eagerly. 

So they went to Mother Cuddles and Tes- 
sie asked her whether she might stay at 
Mamie’s house all night. And Mother Cud- 
dles said she might if she would promise to 


32 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

be a good little kitty girl and not make any 
trouble for Mother Beagle. 

As soon as she had eaten her dinner Tes- 
sie hurried over to Mamie’s house to help 
her clean the attic. She wore a little apron 
to keep her dress clean and in one paw she 
carried her little broom. 

In a little while they were both hard at 
work, and if they had kept at it they would 
have had everything done long before sup- 
per time. But Mamie had so many things 
to show Tessie that the afternoon was 
nearly half gone before they were half 
through. 

Let’s hurry as fast as we can,” said 
Mamie, ‘‘ and maybe we can get it all done 
before Mother Beagle calls us to supper.” 

And sure enough so they did. By the time 
Mother Beagle called up the stairs and told 


THE PLAYMATE STORY 


33 


them to come to supper the work was all 
finished. 

But it wasn’t done at all as it should have 
been. When Mother Beagle went upstairs 
that evening to see how things looked, some 
of the cobwebs were still hanging in the cor- 
ners and the floor wasn’t scrubbed clean at 
all. 

So Mother Beagle made up her mind to 
make Mamie do it over after Tessie had 
gone home. She felt sure that when the two 
little girls were together they would rather 
play than work. 

When supper was over Mamie and Tessie 
sat together at the big table in the sitting- 
room to look at a new book that the little 
puppy girl had received for a birthday pres- 
ent. It was all about fairies, and the pic- 
tures in it were every bit as nice as the stories. 


34 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

It told about a little boy named Billy and 
his little playmate, Mary. 

Now Billy and his little playmate, Mary, 
had really never seen a fairy, but both 
of them felt sure that they were never far 
away. 

So they often tried to coax the fairies to 
visit them. They would set a little toy 
table with tiny cups and fill each cup with 
the milk squeezed from milkweed so that 
their little friends might have something to 
drink. 

And at other times they would put little 
pieces of cake and candy on the table so that 
Blue-bell, the fairy queen, and Blink, the 
fairy king, might have a feast. Nor did they 
forget to print little notes inviting the fairies 
to help themselves. 

Billy and Mary felt sure that the fairies 


THE PLAYMATE STORY 


35 


paid them a visit while they were sound 
asleep. For how else could the milk have 
disappeared out of the tiny cups. And, no 
matter how carefully they searched, the 
bits of cake and candy were not to be found. 
So surely the fairies must have been 
there. 

‘‘ Maybe if they had stayed awake a lit- 
tle longer,” suggested Tessie, after Mamie 
had finished reading the story, “ they might 
have seen the fairies after all.” 

‘‘ Oh, wouldn’t it be fun for us to stay 
awake and watch for them,” replied Mamie; 
'' let’s stay awake to-night and maybe we 
can see them.” 

That evening when the two little animal 
girls went to bed they took a candle upstairs 
with them so that they could see the fairies 
if they came around. 


36 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

They put on their little nighties and caps 
and then sat in the middle of the room with 
the lighted candle between them. 

‘'Now we mustn’t go to sleep,” warned 
Mamie, “ or else they might come and we 
wouldn’t see them.” 

Of course Tessie intended to keep awake, 
but it wasn’t very long before the Sandman 
came snooping around. And the next min- 
ute she was sound, sound asleep. 

“Tessie! Tessie!” called Mamie, “why 
don’t you stay awake? ” 

So Tessie tried her best to keep awake, but 
somehow or other she could not keep her 
sleepy little eyes open. The next time she 
fell asleep, however, Mamie never knew it 
as the little puppy girl was sound asleep 
herself. 

And when Mother Beagle looked into the 


THE PLAYMATE STORY 


37 



SAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM WITH THE LIGHTED CANDLE 

BETWEEN THEM ” 




38 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

room a little later there sat the two little 
sleepy-heads with their eyes shut. So she 
tucked them both into bed and blew out the 
candle. And as for Blue-bell and Blink, no 
doubt the two little fairies had been peeping 
in through the window all the time. 

It wasn’t very long before Tessie seemed 
to be wide awake and there on the lower end 
of the bed sat a cute little pussycat dressed 
all in white fur. 

Why — why — ! ’’ she gasped, “ it’s 
Santa Claus ! ” 

That’s just who it is,” replied the little 
pussycat. I thought I would drop around 
to see if you’ve been a good little kitty girl 
or not.” 

I’ve tried to be,” said Tessie, hardly 
louder than a whisper. 

‘‘Are you quite sure?” persisted Santa. 


THE PLAYMATE STORY 


39 


“ Never grumbled or pouted or anything like 
that, have you? ” 

Just a little,” admitted Tessie. 

Aha, I see ! ” said Santa, as he pulled out 
a little book and wrote something in it. 

“ Oh, dear! ” gasped Tessie, “ won’t I get 
any presents now? I’ll be ever and ever so 
good if you’ll only bring me a new dolly,” 
she promised. 

‘‘ Don’t you worry one bit,” chuckled 
Santa. ‘‘ When you’re only a little bit 
naughty it don’t count. But watch out if 
you’re very, very naughty.” 

'' How would you like to go along to the 
North Pole and see all my toys? ” he asked 
suddenly. 

I’d just love to,” declared Tessie. 

And just as she was getting out of bed to 
go along with Santa she woke up and there 


40 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

was Mamie with her paws around her to 
keep her from falling out. 

“ Oh, Mamie,” cried the little kitty girl, 
‘‘did you see Santa Claus*? He was right 
here in the room! ” 

“ I guess you must have been dreaming,” 
Mamie told her, “ ’cause if he had been here 
I would have seen him myself.” 

And, sure enough, that’s just what Tessie 
had been doing — dreaming of Santa Claus. 
And that’s all. 


Ill 


THE LAZY PUPPY STORY 

NCE upon a time there was 
a little town in Ani- 
mal Land called Kitty- 
cat Town. And right 
through the middle of 
Kitty cat Town ran a 
pretty little street called Kittyway Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 



41 


42 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and ^sometimes 
they were naughty. 

In one of the little brick houses on Kitty- 
way Lane lived a doggie mother by the name 
of Mother Bowser, and her family of three 


THE LAZY PUPPY STORY 


43 


little puppy children. The two little puppy 
boys were called Jackie and Benny, and their 
little puppy sister was called Curly. 

One morning after Mother Bowser had 
started to cook breakfast she glanced up at 
the clock and saw that it was after eight 
o’clock. And school started a half hour 
later — with her three little puppies still in 
bed! 

'' Children! Children! ” she called up the 
stairs, get up right away! It’s after eight 
o’clock and you’ll surely be late for school.” 

Benny and Curly heard her call and it was 
quite surprising how quickly they jumped 
out of bed and started to dress. But their 
little brother, Jackie, eyed them sleepily out 
of one eye and never even moved. 

‘‘Well, I declare!” exlaimed Mother 
Bowser, with a smile, as her two little pup- 


44 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

pies came downstairs, you surely did 
hurry! Why, I didn’t even have time to 
dish up the oatmeal.” 

‘‘Where’s Jackie?” she asked, suddenly, 
as she noticed that he had not come down- 
stairs with them. 

“ He’s still in bed,” replied his little 
puppy brother, Benny. 

So Mother Bowser went to the foot of the 
stairs for the second time to call Jackie. 
The little puppy boy was still curled up in 
bed as snug as a bug in a rug. But he was 
not asleep, as both of his bright little eyes 
were wide open. 

When he heard Mother Bowser call the 
second time he answered “ Yes’m” as loud 
as he could. But instead of getting up as 
he should have done he began to grum- 
ble. 


THE LAZY PUPPY STORY 


45 


‘‘ I wish I could stay in bed as long as I 
wanted to,” he whined to himself. ‘‘ If it 
was only Saturday, so that I wouldn’t have 
to go to school,” he thought. 

Then he stretched both of his little paws 
above his head and opened his mouth in a 
great big yawn. 

‘‘ Golly, but I’m sleepy,” he mumbled. 

And, would you believe it, the next minute 
he was sound, sound asleep again. And 
when Mother Bowser came upstairs a little 
later to see why he hadn’t gotten up, there 
he was with his eyes shut and snoring like a 
little woodchopper. 

‘‘ I’ll just teach him a lesson,” decided 
Mother Bowser, as she closed the door softly 
and went on downstairs again. 

It was quite late in the morning before 
Jackie awoke, and you can imagine how 


46 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

scared he was when he came downstairs and 
saw what time it was. 

Mother Bowser,” he called, ‘‘ where are 
you? ” 

But Mother Bowser was not there, as she 
had gone across the street to see Mother Cud- 
dles. 

“ ril just turn the clock back and then 
Mother Bowser won’t know how late it is 
when she gets back,” decided Jackie. 

So that’s just what he did. He turned the 
hands of the clock back to nine o’clock. 

When Mother Bowser came home there 
sat Jackie at the table eating his bowl of oat- 
meal. 

“ You lazy puppy boy,” she told him, 
‘‘ never getting up until eleven o’clock and 
school starts before nine ! ” 

‘'Why, it’s only nine now!” declared 


THE LAZY PUPPY STORY 


47 




48 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Jackie, looking at the big clock in the cor- 
ner. 

That’s queer,” answered Mother Bowser, 
“ it surely must be wrong.” 

“Maybe — maybe it needs some oil,” 
stammered Jackie. 

“ Maybe it does,” admitted Mother Bow- 
ser in a funny kind of a voice. 

Well, anyway, Jackie was more than two 
hours late to school, and the teacher made 
him stay in an hour after school was dis- 
missed for being late. And that wasn’t all, 
for when supper was ready Mother Bowser 
said: 

“ You’ll have to wait for your supper un- 
til the clock catches up. I’ve found out that 
it’s at least two hours behind time. 

So Jackie had to wait until long after the 
others had eaten their supper, and you know 


THE LAZY PUPPY STORY 


49 


what that means to a hungry little puppy 
boy. 

That evening, when Mother Bowser 
kissed him good-night, Jackie told her all 
about turning the clock back and how sorry 
he felt about it. After this Fm going to 
get up when the others do,” he promised. 
And, sure enough, so he did. 

And that’s all. 


IV 


THE FARM STORY 

NCE upon a time there was 
a little town in Ani- 
mal Land called Kitty- 
cat Town. And right 
through* the middle of 
Kittycat Town ran a 
pretty little street called Kittyway Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. • 



50 


THE FARM STORY 


51 


On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It was 
here the doggie mothers lived together with 
their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

A short distance below the little brick 
house on Kittyway Lane where Mother Cud- 
dles and her little kitty children lived, a lit- 


52 THE SANDMAN: HIS ^ANIMAL STORIES 

tie road branched off and ran straight ahead 
until it stopped at a pretty little farmhouse. 
It was here Farmer Brisk, the doggie farmer 
lived. 

One day Farmer Brisk stopped at Daddy 
Fourpaw’s store to order some groceries, and 
while he was there he told the doggie store- 
keeper that he would be unable to let him 
have any butter that week. For Farmer 
Brisk furnished Daddy Fourpaws with all 
the butter he sold in his store. 

Why, how is that? ” asked Daddy, won- 
dering what he would say when the animal 
folks asked for their usual half pound of but- 
ter and he had none to sell them. 

‘‘ It’s just this way,” explained Farmer 
Brisk. ‘‘ Mother Whitepaws, who always 
churns my butter for me, is sick in bed, and I 
really don’t know who else to get.” 


THE FARM STORY 


53 


‘'Can’t you churn it yourself?” asked 
Daddy. 

“No, indeed,” replied Farmer Brisk, “I 
wouldn’t know the first thing about it.” 

Now right along side of Farmer Brisk and 
the doggie store-keeper stood Dolly Cuddles, 
the little kitty girl, waiting to order some 
sugar. And, of course, she could not help 
but hear what they said about the butter. 

“ Wouldn’t it be fun if I could churn it? ” 
thought Dolly to heiself. “ I’d just love to 
make butter.” 

So she turned to Farmer Brisk and told 
him just what she had been thinking about. 

“You churn the butter!” repeated 
Farmer Brisk, looking quite surprised. 
“ Why, you’re only a little kitty girl, and 
I’m afraid hardly strong enough to work the 
churn.” 


54 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

“ Oh, but rm awfully strong for my size,” 
Dolly assured him, stretching up on her tiny 
tiptoes so as to appear all the taller. 

“Well, so you are!” laughed Farmer 
Brisk. 

“ Dolly’s quite a handy little kitty girl,” 
spoke up Daddy, as he playfully pinched 
one of Dolly’s ears with his paw. 

So Farmer Brisk decided to let Dolly 
churn the butter for him. 

“ And be sure to make it good,” said 
Daddy, with a twinkle in his eye, “ or else 
all my customers will stop buying butter.” 

“ ril be ever so careful,” promised Dolly, 
“ to make it just as good as I can.” 

The first thing the little kitty girl did after 
she had left the store was to call on Mother 
Whitepaws, the sick pussycat mother, and 
ask her how she always made the butter. 


THE FARM STORY 


55 


And, of course, Mother Whitepaws was only 
too glad to tell her all about it. 

That evening at the supper table Dolly 
asked her little kitty brother, Billy, whether 
he wanted to go along with her when she 
went to Farmer Brisk’s the next day to churn 
butter. And Billy said he would like to go, 
as there was no place around for a little kitty 
boy to have as much fun as at Farmer 
Brisk’s. 

So bright and early the next morning 
Dolly and Billy started off for Farmer 
Brisk’s. And as soon as they got there the 
farmer doggie showed Dolly where to find 
the pails of rich golden cream in the spring 
house. 

The little kitty girl was soon churning 
busily away, humming merrily to herself all 
the time. And while his little sister was 


56 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

making the butter Billy started off to the 
barn to look for eggs. For Farmer Brisk 
had told him that several of the hens had 
gotten up in the hay-mow to lay. 

And, sure enough, when he climbed up the 
ladder to the mow there was a nest full of 
eggs made in the hay. There were seven 
eggs in the nest, and just as he was taking 
them out the old hen spied him. 

'' Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! ” she cackled very 
decidedly, which meant that she wanted him 
to get out and leave her eggs alone. 

‘‘ I won’t do it,” replied Billy, just as 
saucy as the hen. ‘‘ Farmer Brisk said I 
should get them and I’m going to take them 
along.” 

And just then Mrs. Hen flew down and 
pecked Billy right on the end of his soft lit- 
tle nose. 


THE FARM STORY 


57 



THERE WAS A NEST FULL OF EGGS 




58 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

“There!” she clucked, “that will teach 
you better manners! ” 

The peck on the nose was so unexpected 
that Billy lost his balance and fell head over 
heels clear down to the barn floor. And you 
never saw such a cross little kitty boy in all 
your life as he sprang to his feet and started 
up the ladder again. In fact he looked so 
cross that Mrs. Hen made up her mind to let 
him have the eggs after all. 

When Billy got back to the house with the 
eggs Dolly had just finished churning the 
butter, so they decided to walk out to the 
hay-field and watch Farmer Brisk take in the 
hay. 

As soon as they reached the hay-field Billy 
asked the farmer doggie whether he might 
help him gather up the hay. And when 
Farmer Brisk handed him the big long- 


THE FARM STORY 


59 


handled rake he smiled just a little bit to 
himself. 

For in a very little while Billy got tired, 
and the heat of the sun made him feel weak 
and giddy. The rake was big and heavy for 
a little kitty boy to handle, so Farmer Brisk 
told him to go down to the well and bring up 
a fresh pail of water And Dolly went along 
with him to help carry it. 

Now Farmer Brisk had two wells: one of 
them near the house that he always used, and 
another one out in the meadow that was so 
old that the boards in the well floor had al- 
most rotted through. And instead of going 
to the well near the house Billy went to the 
old well in the meadow. And just as he 
stepped up on the well floor one of the boards 
cracked beneath his weight, and down 
through the hole went Billy head over heels. 


6o THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

'' Oh, my! Oh, my! ” sobbed poor Dolly, 
as she ran up to the well and peered down 
through the boards, ‘‘ what’ll I do? What’ll 
Ido?” 

Luckily there was very little water in the 
well and Billy landed safely on his feet at 
the bottom. The first thing Dolly heard 
was Billy calling up to her to lower the rope. 
So she made a loop at the end of it and 
lowered it carefully down the well. And 
after Billy had placed it around his body she 
pulled him safely to the top again. 

And she was so delighted to find that 
he was not hurt in the least that she 
caught him around the neck and gave him a 
kiss. 

On the way back to the hay-field, Dolly, 
who was helping to carry the pail of water, 
gave a little scream and stepped back so sud- 


THE FARM STORY 


6l 



SHE PULLED HIM SAFELY TO THE TOP 



62 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

denly that she spilled some of the water over 
Billy. 

“ Oh, goodness,” she gasped, there’s a 
great big snake! ” 

And, sure enough, that’s just what it was, 
wriggling along the ground only a few steps 
away. The next moment it had disap- 
peared under a pile of hay. 

'‘Golly,” cried Billy, "wasn’t it long! ” 

That evening when the two little Cud- 
dieses got home the first thing they told 
Mother Cuddles was about the snake. 

" It was ten feet long! ” declared Billy. 

" Hold on,” said Mother Cuddles, " are 
you quite sure? ” 

" Well, it was five feet long, anyway,” in- 
sisted Billy, measuring it off with his two 
paws. 

Now anyone knows that a little kitty boy 


THE FARM STORY 


63 


can’t measure off five feet with his paws. 
And no one knew it better than Mother Cud- 
dles. So she told him to eat his supper. 

And that’s all. 


V 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY STORY 
CE upon a time there was 



a little town in Ani- 
mal Land called Kitty- 
cat Town. And right 
through the middle of 
Kittycat Town ran a 


pretty little street called Kittyway Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
64 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY STORY 


65 


another row of tiny houses, and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

Curly Bowser, the little puppy girl, who 
lived with Mother Bowser and her two little 
puppy brothers in one of the little brick 
houses on Kittyway Lane was as happy as 


66 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

happy could be. For the next day was to be 
her birthday, and Mother Bowser told her 
she might have a party and invite all her lit- 
tle friends. 

In Animal Land all the little puppy chil- 
dren have their birthdays three times a year 
instead of only once. Otherwise they would 
be really truly growed up doggies before 
they could have a birthday, and that would 
be no fun at all. 

Almost the first thing the little puppy girl 
asked her mother was what they would have 
for lunch. 

ril bake you a pan of cookies,” said 
Mother Bowser. 

‘‘With currants in them?” asked Curly, 
eagerly. 

“ Yes, indeed,” promised Mother Bowser, 
“ just full of them.” 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY STORY 67 

Oh, won’t that be nice!” exclaimed 
Curly, fairly delighted. ‘‘ And what else 
would you have? ” she wanted to know. 

“ I think they’d all enjoy some sand- 
wiches,” suggested Mother Bowser. 

Oh, yes. I’m sure they would,” agreed 
Curly. 

“ And then, last of all,” went on Mother 
Bowser, ‘‘ I’d have some ice-cream! ” 

Oh, Mother Bowser,” cried Curly, ‘‘ you 
don’t mean it! ” 

But Mother Bowser did mean it, for on 
the morning of Curly’s birthday she sent her 
little puppy girl upstairs to the attic to bring 
down the ice-cream freezer. 

‘'What flavor shall I make?” asked 
Mother Bowser, as soon as Curly came back 
with the freezer. 

Chocolate was Curly’s choice, just as 


68 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Mother Bowser expected. For there was 
nothing at all that Curly liked better than 
chocolate. 

After they were through churning the ice- 
cream, Mother Bowser brought out the birth- 
day cake that the doggie baker had brought 
the day before. It was all covered over with 
pink icing, and around the edge was placed 
a number of tiny blue candles all ready to 
be lit. The wonderful birthday cake was 
put on a little table all by itself to be 
later cut into slices — and a piece given to 
each one of the little guests at Curly’s 
party. 

Mother Bowser had made Curly a new 
dress to wear at the party, and as soon as 
dinner was over the little puppy girl hur- 
ried upstairs to put it on. And every few 
moments she would peep out of the window 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY STORY 


69 


for fear some of her little friends might come 
before she was ready. 

Now, Curly wanted to look very nice on 
her birthday, and especially as she had on a 
new dress. And she thought it would make 
her look more dressed up if she put some 
talcum powder on her nose. 

Mother Bowser had two kinds of talcum 
powder standing on her bureau. One of 
them smelt just like , the violets you pick in 
the woods and the other kind had no smell 
at all. 

So the little puppy girl decided to use the 
smelly kind, and, standing a little stool in 
front of the bureau, she climbed up on it to 
look in the glass. Then she sprinkled the 
powder out of the can all over her nose. 

But it didn’t make her look one bit pret- 
tier. She had just washed her face and her 


70 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

fur was still damp so that the talcum pow- 
der stuck fast and made her look like a little 
clown in a circus. 

‘'Oh, dear!” she gasped, as she winked 
and blinked at herself in the mirror, “ what 
shall I do! ” 

There was only one way to get it off and 
that was to wash her face the second time. 
And it was not until she had rubbed and 
scrubbed a long time that it all disappeared. 

Just as she finished drying her face on the 
towel the front door-bell rang. And when 
she hurried downstairs and opened the door 
there were four of her little friends who had 
come to her party in a little wagon pulled 
by a dapple gray pony. 

Fluffy Ruffles was driving and looked too 
sweet for anything in her big white hat and 
new dress with short sleeves. Next to her 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY STORY 


71 



SPRINKLED THE POWDER OUT OF THE CAN ALL OVER HER NOSE 




7 ^ THE SANDMAN: HiS ANIMAL STORIES 

was Beauty Snowball wearing a little lace 
cap, and beside her sat Dottie Cream with 
a cunning little ding-a-ling perched on her 
head. Last of all came Goldie Whitetoes 
in a new silk dress. 

Fluffy Ruffles and Dottie Cream had their 
eyes half closed just as though they were 
sleepy. No doubt the road was dusty and 
some of it got in their eyes. Or perhaps 
their mothers tied their bonnet strings too 
tight. 

The next little guest to arrive was Dolly 
Cuddles. She had brought her doll with her 
and carried it tightly clasped in her paws. 
Every little while she would give it a hug so 
that it would not feel afraid. When Curly 
greeted her little kitty friend she did not for- 
get to kiss her dolly too. 

The door-bell seemed to be ringing all the 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY STORY 73 

time, and there was so many of the little ani- 
mal boys and girls coming in that Curly 
hardly had time to greet them all. But she 
was very careful not to miss any of them for 
fear they might think they were not welcome 
to her party. 

The last ones to come were the two little 
puppy sisters, Tillie and Jillie Crinkle. 
Both of them had brought their little play- 
mate, Curly, a birthday present. Tillie 
had hers wrapped up in paper under her 
paw, while Jillie carried hers in a little bas- 
ket. 

And as all the little guests were there they 
at once started in to play games. They first 
played puss-in-the-corner, and after that 
came blindman’s buff. And some of the 
puppy boys and girls played hide-the-hand- 
kerchief, only they used a little white bone 


74 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

instead of a handkerchief. Because then 
you see they could smell just where it was. 

When they were tired of playing games 
Mother Bowser gave them several balls of 
yarn to toss about. It was lots of fun for 
the little animal boys and girls to roll the 
balls along the floor and then stop them with 
their paws before they went too far. 

And while they were in the midst of their 
play Mother Bowser called them all out to 
supper. Every four of the little guests had 
a table to themselves so that none of them 
would feel crowded. 

And when they started in to eat there was 
ever and ever so many things there that the 
little kitty and puppy children liked. 
There was milk for the little kittens and 
lemonade for the little puppies. 

Fluffy Ruffles spilt her glass of milk all 


THE BIRTHDAY PARTY STORY 


75 



TILLIE HAD HERS WRAPPED UP IN PAPER 


76 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

down over her new dress. The poor little 
kitty girl felt just like crying for fear her 
mother might scold her; but before very long 
she had forgotten all about it and was purr- 
ing as happy as ever. 

After supper was over Mother Bowser told 
them a story about the three little kittens 
who lived in the woods. When she had 
finished it was time for them to start for 
home, so they all said good-bye to their lit- 
tle friend, Curly, and told her what a jolly 
time they had had at her birthday party. 

And that’s all. 


VI 

THE OYSTER PIE STORY 


NCE upon a time there was 
a little town in Ani- 
mal Land called Kitty- 
cat Town. And right 
through the middle of 
Kittycat Town ran a 
pretty little street called Kittyway Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 



77 


78 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

It was Saturday morning, and, of course, 
the little Cuddleses had no school. Mother 
Cuddles was going away for the day to visit 


THE OYSTER PIE STORY 


79 


a pussycat friend of hers, so she told her 
kitty children that they could go with her if 
they promised to behave. And all of them 
were eager to go but Buster and his two little 
kitty sisters, Betty and Tessie. 

Why, how is that? ” asked Mother Cud- 
dles, looking surprised. ‘‘ I thought all of 
you liked to go visiting.’’ 

Laddie Rover and I are going for a 
walk,” explained Buster. Laddie was the 
little puppy boy who lived just across the 
street in one of the little brick houses of the 
doggie folks. 

And we’re going to have company,” 
spoke up Betty. Beula Whitepaws is com- 
ing to see Tessie and me.” 

Beula Whitepaws was a little kitty girl 
who often came to spend the day with the 
two little Cuddleses. And both of them 


8o THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

thought it would be a great deal more fun to 
stay at home and play with Beula than to go 
visiting. 

“ All right,” said Mother Cuddles, you 
don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Betty 
can get your dinner and I’ll be home in time 
to get your supper.” 

After Mother Cuddles and her little 
brothers and sisters had left the house Tessie 
asked Betty what she was going to have for 
dinner. 

“What would you like to have?” asked 
Betty. 

“ Something nice that Beula will like,” re- 
plied her little sister. 

“ How would an oyster pie taste? ” said 
Betty. 

“ Goody! Goody! ” cried Tessie. “ I just 
know Beula will like oyster pie,” 


THE OYSTER PIE STORY 


8i 


Just then the front door bell rang. 

^'There’s Beula now!” they both ex- 
claimed, as they raced to the front door to 
let her in. 

‘‘ Come right in, Beula,” invited Tessie, 
as she kissed her little friend on the end of 
her little pink nose. And then Betty kissed 
her, too. 

A little later Betty started for the kitchen 
to make the oyster pie for dinner. 

‘‘ If it only is good,” thought the little 
kitty girl, as she lined a dish with dough and 
put in the oysters. 

In a very little while the pie was in the 
oven baking and every now and then the two 
hungry little kitty girls in the other room 
would get a delicious whiff of it. 

Do you know what we’re going to have 
for dinner?” asked Tessie, finally. 


82 THE SANDMAN: HiS ANIMAL STORIES 

‘‘ Something good the way it smells,” re- 
plied her little kitty friend. 

“ Oyster pie,” said Tessie. 

‘‘Um-m-m!” went Beula, just like 
that. 

When the pie was done Betty took it out 
of the oven and set it on the window-sill to 
cool until dinner was ready. And while she 
was down in the cellar to get the things to 
put on the table along came Buster, her lit- 
tle kitty brother. And the first thing he 
spied was the oyster pie sitting on the win- 
dow-sill. 

‘‘ Um-m-m! ” he went, just like Beula had 
done. 

Then he looked into the window to see if 
any one was watching him. The next mo- 
ment he had grabbed up the pie and disap- 
peared through the door of the woodshed. 


THE OYSTER PIE STORY 


83 





84 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

And there he sat on the chopping block and 
ate every last crumb of it. 

When Betty came up out of the cellar and 
found the pie gone she felt so badly about 
it that she could have cried, and when she 
went into the other room and told Tessie and 
Beula what had happened there were two 
big tears in her eyes. 

“ It must have been an old tramp dog,’’ 
she almost sobbed. 

‘‘ Never mind, Betty,” comforted her kind- 
hearted little sister, ‘‘ Beula and I will eat 
something else.” 

Of course Buster never came in for a bit 
of dinner, and he never knew that Betty 
made a big dish of corn starch pudding. 
And the little kitty boy liked corn starch 
pudding even better than he did oyster pie. 

As soon as Mother Cuddles got home Betty 


THE OYSTER PIE STORY 


85 


told her about the oyster pie, and she sus- 
pected that it was no tramp dog at all. 

‘‘ It was that naughty kitty boy, Buster,” 
she said to herself. 

And as soon as they started to eat their 
supper she was sure of it, for Buster wasn’t 
a bit hungry after eating all that pie. 

“Why don’t you eat?” Mother Cuddles 
asked him. 

“I — I have a headache,” stammered 
Buster. 

“ It’s no wonder,” said Mother Cuddles, 
sternly, “after eating a whole oyster pie. 
Now you go right upstairs and go to bed and 
maybe the next time you’ll not be so greedy.” 

And Buster had to go. 

And that’s all. 


VII 


THE CIRCUS STORY 

NCE upon a time there was 
a little town in Ani- 
mal Land called Kitty- 
cat Town. And right 
through the middle of 
Kittycat Town ran a 
pretty little street called Kittyway Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

86 



THE CIRCUS STORY 


87 


On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just 
the same as all other little boys and girls. 
And sometimes they were good and some- 
times they were naughty. 

Near the little brick house where Mother 
Cuddles and her kitty children lived was a 
vacant lot, and in front of the vacant lot was 


88 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

a high board fence. Bright and early, one 
morning, along came the bill poster cat, and 
he stopped in front of the high board fence 
and pasted up a lot of pictures. 

That same day, after school was out, 
Buster Cuddles, the little kitty boy, came 
running into the kitchen where Mother Cud- 
dles sat paring potatoes for supper. And he 
was so excited that he nearly knocked the 
pan out of her lap. 

“Oh, Mother Cuddles!” he gasped; 
“ what do you think? ” 

“ I couldn’t guess,” smiled Mother Cud- 
dles. 

“The circus is coming! ” panted Buster. 
“ And there’s going to be the swellest parade 
you ever saw, ’cause the bill poster cat has 
just put up a lot of pictures telling you all 
about it. We can all go. Mother Cuddles, 


THE CIRCUS STORY 


89 


can’t we? Can’t we, Mother Cuddles?” 
pleaded the excited little kitty boy. 

‘‘I guess so,” promised Mother Cud- 
dles; “ that is if you’re all good kitty chil- 
dren.” 

Buster gave a whoop of joy and at once 
ran out to tell the good news to his little 
brothers and sisters. And each one of them 
became just as elated as he was. 

‘‘ I’m going to carry water for the ele- 
phants,” announced Tommy, proudly. 

‘‘ Pooh! ” sniffed Buster; ‘‘ I’m not. I’m 
going to buy a bag of peanuts and feed them 
to the monkeys.” 

Circus day came around at last, and all the 
little Cuddleses were up bright and early. 
It was one of the few times that Mother Cud- 
dles had no trouble in getting them out of 
bed. There was to be no school that day. 


90 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

SO all the little animal folks could do just as 
they pleased. 

The parade was to start at ten o’clock, and 
long before that time Betty, Tessie and 
Dotty had gone down to the schoolhouse and 
perched themselves behind the brick wall in 
front of the playground. Their four little 
brothers had seated themselves along the 
curb in a row. Their little sister, Dolly, was 
a little more timid than the others and she 
preferred to stay at home with Mother Cud- 
dles and watch the parade from their front 
porch. 

Finally there came the sound of music, 
and around the corner swung the head of 
the parade. The little Cuddleses. fairly 
gasped with astonishment, for never before 
had they seen such a wonderful sight. 

And when the elephants came slouching 


THE CIRCUS STORY 


91 





‘‘ PERCHED THEMSELVES BEHIND THE BRICK WALL 


92 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

along, swinging their huge trunks to and 
fro, and flapping their big ears, the four lit- 
tle kitty boys seated on the curb could 
hardly keep still they were so excited. And 
after the elephants came the queer looking 
camels followed by ei^ht little ponies pull- 
ing a chariot. And, last of all, came the 
dens of wild animals, with the noisy steam 
calliope shrieking out a tune behind 
them. 

As soon as dinner was over. Mother Cud- 
dles took her eight little kitty children out 
to the circus grounds to see the performance 
in the big tent. First of all they visited the 
menagerie, and, when a big lion roared, timid 
little Dolly clung tight to Mother Cuddles’ 
dress. 

All that afternoon they watched the cir- 
cus folks perform, and nothing pleased them 


THE CIRCUS STORY 


93 


more than the little animal clowns doing 
their funny little tricks. And when they 
went home after the show was over they 
were eight tired but happy little kittens. 

For several days after that Buster would 
talk of nothing else but that wonderful cir- 
cus. And his little brothers and sisters were 
almost as bad. 

One day Mother Cuddles was sorting out 
rags to give to the rag cat. Buster was sit- 
ting close by watching her and when he saw 
her pull a big bundle of old sheets out of the 
bag he gave a cry of delight. 

‘‘Oh, Mother Cuddles!” he exclaimed; 
“ what are you going to do with them‘? ” 

“Give them to the rag cat,” replied 
Mother Cuddles. “ They’re too full of 
holes to be of any use.” 

“ May I have them? ” he asked. 


94 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

‘‘ What in the world do you want them 
for?” Mother Cuddles wanted to know. 

‘‘ I want to make a circus tent,” explained 
Buster. 

So Mother Cuddles gave him the worn- 
out sheets, and Buster hurried off to hunt up 
his two little kitty sisters, Betty and Tessie. 
He found them playing under the old ap- 
ple-tree in the backyard and asked them 
whether they would sew some old sheets to- 
gether for him to make a circus tent. 

^ His two sisters said they would, and after 
Buster had told them just how he wanted it, 
they got their needles and thread and started 
in. And by supper time the little tent was 
all ready to put up. 

After supper was over, Buster and his two 
little kitty brothers, Tommy and Teddy, 
put the tent up in the back yard. And after 


THE CIRCUS STORY 


95 


that they made the seats out of some soap- 
boxes with boards laid across them. 

The next day the little Cuddleses, as well 
as several of their little playmates, were 
busy selling tickets for Buster’s show. And 
it surely was surprising how many tickets 
they sold. Mrs, Richpuss, the wealthy 
pussycat lady, bought six, and Miss Prim, 
who lived nearby, took three. And as for 
Daddy Fourpaws, the good-natured doggie 
storekeeper of Kittyway Lane — goodness 
knows how many he bought. 

First he bought one of Laddie Rover, the 
little puppy boy, and a little later Curly 
Bowser, the little puppy girl, came into the 
store and sold him another one. 

Not another one will I buy,” said 
Daddy to himself, very decidedly, after 
Curly had left the store. 


96 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

And he had hardly said it before the door 
opened and in came Dolly Cuddles with her 
paw full of tickets. 

'‘Oh, Daddy!” she cried, "won’t you 
please buy a ticket of me for Buster’s cir- 
cus?” 

"Not another one! Not another one! ” 
repeated Daddy. " That is — I — we — 
well — ,” he began to stammer as he saw the 
corners of Dolly’s mouth begin to droop. 
" Sure! Sure! ” he cried, " give me two! ” 

The next Saturday afternoon the Cud- 
dieses’ backyard was full of the little ani- 
mal children waiting to get into the circus. 
And as each one went into the tent Buster 
took his ticket at the entrance. 

The front part of the tent held the menag- 
erie. First of all there was Daddy Four- 
paws’ old white donkey. Jack, who did 


THE CIRCUS STORY 


97 


nothing at all but munch hay and wobble 
his big clumsy ears. Right behind him, sit- 
ting on a perch, was Miss Prim’s green par- 
rot with his feathers all ruffled and looking 
quite cross when the little animal folks 
came too close. And, last of all, was a big 
wild eagle ! 

Of course every one knew that the eagle 
was only Mother Cuddles’ big red rooster, 
but they all pretended that it was very fierce 
and no one' would go very close to its cage. 
And every little while the captive would 
stick his head out through the slats of the 
box and crow. 

When the show started, the first per- 
formers were Jackie Bowser and Laddie 
Rover dressed as clowns. Jackie held up a 
paper hoop and Laddie gave a leap and dove 
through it head first. 


98 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

'' Hoop-la! ’’ shouted Jackie. 

Hoop-la! ” answered Laddie. 

The next act was to be Johnny Whiteface, 
who was to balance himself on a ladder. 
First of all he stood a chair on top of a table 
and on top of that he placed the ladder. 
Then he began to climb the ladder. 

‘‘Oh-h-h-h!” went several of the little 
animal girls, expecting nothing else but 
that Johnny would have a tumble. 

And that’s just what happened. The 
chair slipped on the table and down came 
the whole thing with poor Johnny’s legs 
stuck through the rungs of the ladder. 

But he wasn’t hurt one bit, and all the lit- 
tle folks there just clapped and clapped and 
clapped. For it seemed very funny to have 
Johnny stand on his head. 

The last thing of all was Betty and Tessie 


THE CIRCUS STORY 


99 





LADDIE GAVE A LEAP AND DOVE THROUGH IT HEAD FIRST 


100 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Cuddles riding around the ring on the back 
of Jack, the old white donkey. And as old 
white donkeys never go very fast there was 
no danger of the two little kitty girls falling 
off. And when the show was over, and the 
little animal folks went home, it seemed as 
though they could never get done telling 
about the dandy circus that Buster Cuddles 
had. 

And that’s all. 


VIII 


THE CAMPING STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 

lOI 



102 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

mothers lived together with their little 
kitty children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses, and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just 
the same as all other little boys and girls. 
And sometimes they were good and some- 
times they were naughty. 

Buster Cuddles, the little kitty boy, had 


THE CAMPING STORY 


103 


made a smaller tent out of the big circus tent 
that his two little sisters had sewed together 
for him. And he had set up the little tent 
in the back yard to use as a playhouse. 

One day his two little brothers, Billy and 
Teddy, made up their minds to go camping, 
so they planned to ask Buster for the loan of 
his tent. 

Wouldn’t it be fine,” said Teddy to 
Billy, “ to camp out in the woods in a tent? ” 

“ Maybe Buster won’t let us have it,” re- 
plied Billy. 

But Buster agreed to let them use it after 
they had promised him a one-bladed knife, 
a bag of marbles and three lollypops. 

The next thing was to win over Mother 
Cuddles. They were not quite sure that she 
would allow them to stay out in the woods 
all night by themselves. 


104 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

But Mother Cuddles said they might try 
it if they wanted to. And she did not ap- 
pear a bit alarmed at the thought of her two 
little kittens staying out in the woods over 
night. When she gave them permission she 
smiled softly to herself just as though she 
already knew how things would turn out. 

The next day, bright and early, Billy and 
Teddy started for the woods back of the 
schoolhouse where they were going to camp. 
There was a little pond close by with a lit- 
tle stream running into it. 

While their camping place was not far 
from home they had to make several trips to 
carry out all the things they needed. So 
nearly half the morning was gone before 
they were ready to fix up their camp. 

The first thing they did was to put up 
their tent. And you can imagine how 


THE CAMPING STORY 105 

happy they were when they had it all done 
and were able to crawl inside. 

Whee-e-e-e ! ” whooped Teddy, “ isnT 
this great! ’’ 

It beats living at home all hollow! ” an- 
swered Billy. 

When dinner time came they stuck two 
forked sticks into the ground to hang their 
kettle on. And while Billy started the fire 
Teddy put the food on to cook. 

And when they sat down to eat it would 
have been hard to find two hungrier little 
kitty boys. In fact if Mother Cuddies 
hadn’t packed them such a big basket full 
of things they would have eaten everything 
up the very first meal. 

After dinner was over Billy decided to go 
fishing while Teddy was to stay near the 
camp to see that no one disturbed their 


lo6 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

things. And the next day Teddy was to go 
fishing and Billy was to stay at camp. 

‘‘I wonder where Fll start to fish?” 
thought Billy as he walked down the path 
towards the pond. And then, all of a sud- 
den, he happened to think of the pool under 
the big willow-tree just where the little 
stream made a bend before it emptied into 
the pond. 

For the pool under the big willow-tree was 
the very place where Laddie Rover, his lit- 
tle puppy chum, had seen a big trout only a 
few days before. And from what Laddie 
had said it must have been the grand-daddy 
trout of them all. 

When Billy reached the fishing pool un- 
der the big willow-tree he found the water 
as still as a mill pond when the wind 
doesn’t blow. And just as he was baiting 


THE CAMPING STORY 


107 



STUCK TWO FORKED STICKS INTO THE GROUND 


I08 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

up his hook a big silvery looking bug 
dropped down from the willow-tree over- 
head and lit on the water. 

‘‘ Golly! ” gasped Billy, ‘‘ I wonder — ” 

And just what he was thinking about hap- 
pened. A big round body shot up from the 
bottom of the pool and with a swish and 
swirl the grand-daddy trout grabbed the 
bug. And the trout was even bigger than 
Laddie had said. 

Now you know what that meant to a lit- 
tle kitty boy who was fairly dying to catch 
a great big trout. Billy was so excited after 
that that he could hardly bait his hook. 

And wasn’t it mean that the big old trout 
wouldn’t even look at Billy’s bait. He 
wouldn’t as much as go near it, and the little 
kitty boy fished until his paw got tired hold- 
ing the pole. 


THE CAMPING STORY log 

Just as he was about to give up and try 
some other place another one of those silvery 
looking bugs dropped down from the tree 
and fell on the grass right alongside of him. 

‘‘ Maybe he’s hungry for another one,” 
decided Billy, as he put it on his hook. 

And would you believe it, the bug had no 
sooner touched the water when up flashed 
old grand-daddy trout and swallowed bug, 
hook and all. 

“ I got him! I got him! ” whooped Billy, 
wild with joy. 

And you ought to have seen that trout and 
Billy pull. First the fish would try to pull 
Billy in, and then Billy would try to pull 
the fish out. And for a little while it was 
hard to tell which one was going to win. 

But finally the trout gave in and Billy 
hauled him out on the grass. And never be- 


no THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

fore had such a big trout been caught by any 
of the little animal boys. 

Billy was too eager to show his prize to 
Teddy to think of fishing any longer, so he 
picked up the trout and started back to camp 
as hard as he could go. But when he got 
there his little kitty brother was nowhere 
around. 

‘‘Teddy! Teddy!” he shouted at the 
top of his voice, “come see what Fve 
caught! ” 

Teddy, however, was too far away to hear 
Billy call. The little kitty boy had soon be- 
come tired of staying near the tent with 
nothing to do or to look at, so he decided to 
take a walk down to the pond. 

And when he reached there he was sur- 
prised to find one end of the pond just cov- 
ered with big white water lilies. So he 


THE CAMPING STORY 


III 


made up his mind to try and get a big bunch 
of them to take back to camp. 

The only way to get them was to wade 
out into the water and he was afraid it might 
be too deep. He tried to pull some of them 
ashore with a long stick but they only 
bobbed up and down without breaking 
loose from the stem. 

Suddenly he noticed a little boat pulled 
up on shore on the other side of the pond all 
ready to shove into the water. And right 
alongside of it was a long pole to use in 
shoving it about. 

So he walked around the shore to the other 
side of the pond and then he got into the lit- 
tle boat and tried to push it off with the long 
pole. Finally it began to move a little, and 
after he had pushed until his little paws 
ached he managed to get it afloat. 


1 12 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 


In a little while he had gathered all the 
lilies he wanted, and was about to bring the 
little boat ashore again when he caught sight 
of the biggest lily of them all floating right 
beyond the end of the boat. 

Just as he reached out to pull it off one of 
his paws slipped and over he went head first 
into the pond. 

“Blub! Blub! Blub!” he spluttered, 
as he came up again. And as the water was 
over his head it was lucky for him that he 
came up right alongside of the boat so that 
he could catch hold of it and pull himself 
over the side. 

When he got to shore he gathered up the 
bunch of lilies and started back to camp as 
fast as he could go. And there was Billy 
looking for him everywhere. 

‘'I — I fell in,” he called as soon as he 


THE CAMPING STORY 


II3 



“tried to push it off with the long pole 



1 14 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

caught sight of his little kitty brother. 

And because his face was all streaked 
with dirt and he looked so wet and forlorn, 
Billy had to laugh, and he laughed until the 
tears came. 

But just as soon as Teddy saw the big 
trout that Billy had caught he forgot all 
about his ducking. And while Billy told 
him all about it he sat in the sun to dry his 
clothes. 

Everything was just as pleasant as could 
be to the little kitty boys until evening came 
and it began to get dark. Then the two lit- 
tle campers began to feel that the woods 
were terribly big and lonely for two little 
kittens to be in all by themselves. 

And then, to make matters worse, an old 
owl nearby began to ask questions. 

‘‘ Whoo-o-oo-o? ” he wanted to know. 


THE CAMPING STORY 


115 

He means us/’ panted Billy; ‘‘ he’s ask- 
ing some one who they want.” 

Maybe he’s asking some wicked old 
bear,” whispered Teddy, ‘‘ and he’ll come 
and gobble us up.” 

Oh! oh, my! ” groaned Billy, let’s go 
home ! ” 

So they scampered for home as fast as they 
could go leaving everything standing just 
as it was. And when they came to the front 
gate there was Mother Cuddles sitting on 
the front porch waiting for them. 

And when she gathered them up in her lap 
she gave the same funny little smile that she 
had when they first talked about going camp- 
ing out in the woods all night. 

And that’s all. 


IX 

THE FLOWER STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
116 



THE FLOWER STORY 


117 

mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses, and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just 
the same as all other little boys and girls. 
And sometimes they were good and some- 
times they were naughty. 

One day Billy Cuddles, the little kitty 


Il8 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

boy, was telling his little sister, Tessie, 
about Mother Dobbie’s little kitty girl, 
Janie, and how poor they were. Mother 
Dobbie was a pussycat mother who lived 
near the Cuddleses and she had a hard time 
to get along. 

“ You just ought to see her dress,’’ said 
Billy. '' It’s patch upon patch, and 
she’s never, never had a Sunday dress at 
all.” 

Oh, dear! ” sighed tender-hearted little 
Tessie, I wish I could buy her one.” 

‘‘ Maybe we could,” suggested her little 
kitty brother. 

‘‘Oh, Billy!” cried Tessie, with spark- 
ling eyes, “ do you think we could? ” 

“ We can if we can earn some money,” re- 
plied Billy. 

So after these two little kittens had 


THE FLOWER STORY , 1 19 

planned a long time as to the best way to 
earn enough money to buy Janie a new 
dress, they finally decided to have a flower 
stand. 

“We can sell them at so much a bunch,” 
said Billy, “ and most every one likes flow- 
ers.” 

As soon as dinner was over they both 
started away to gather the flowers. Tessie 
intended to go down to the daisy field to 
gather daisies while Billy had heard of some 
water lilies down at the duck pond. 

On the way to the duck pond the little 
kitty boy had to pass by the garden of Mrs. 
Richpuss, the wealthy pussycat lady who 
lived in a grand stone mansion on Kitty- 
way Lane. In the rear of her garden was a 
high brick wall, and the first thing Billy 
spied were clusters of pretty colored holly- 


120 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

hocks nodding at him over the top of the 
wall. 

‘‘ I wonder if she would care if I pulled 
some? ’’ he thought to himself. 

Now, right against the outside of the wall 
stood a big ladder, and, almost before he 
knew it, Billy had climbed up after the hol- 
lyhocks. 

The little kitty boy was about to pull off 
one of the stems of flowers when a great big 
paw reached up from the other side and 
caught hold of him. And there was Mr. 
Bulldog, Mrs. Richpuss’s cross old gar- 
dener. 

Aha! you little rascal! ” cried Mr. Bull- 
dog, I’ve caught you that time ! ” 

'' Oh-h-h-h! ” gasped Billy, too frightened 
to say a word. 

Come right along with me,” said Mr. 


THE FLOWER STORY 


121 



BILLY HAD CLIMBED UP AFTER THE HOLLYHOCKS ” 



122 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 


Bulldog, taking hold of Billy by his jacket 
collar and lifting him over the wall. 

Oh, please Mr. Bulldog let me go,’’ 
pleaded Billy. ‘‘ I’ll never do it again — 
honest and true I won’t.” 

But Mr. Bulldog never said a word. He 
simply marched Billy into the big stone 
house to Mrs. Richpuss. 

“Well! Well!” exclaimed the pussy- 
cat lady in surprise, “ what does this 
mean? ” 

“ I caught him sneaking some holly- 
hocks,” growled the gardener. 

“What’s your name?” asked Mrs. Rich- 
puss kindly, of the frightened little kitty 
boy. 

“ I’m Billy Cuddles,” replied Billy, po- 
litely. 

“ Billy Cuddles,” repeated Mrs. Rich- 


THE FLOWER STORY 


123 


puss, as she began to smile. Aren’t you 
Mother Cuddles’ little kitty boy*? ” 

Yes’m,” answered Billy. 

“ Well, Billy,” smiled Mrs. Richpuss, 
''the next time you want any hollyhocks 
don’t take them, but come in and ask me first 
and I’ll give you all you want.” And, to 
show that she forgave him, she told Mr. 
Bulldog to pull off a big bunch of the flow- 
ers to take home with him. Nor did the 
happy little kitty boy forget to thank her. 

When Billy got home with his bunch of 
hollyhocks his little sister had not yet re- 
turned. So he placed the flowers in a jar 
of water and started off to meet Tessie on 
her way back. 

Now, his little sister, Tessie, had started 
away without telling Mother Cuddles where 
she was going. And just as she reached the 


124 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

front gate she nearly ran into Mother 
Bright-eyes, the pussycat mother who lived 
next door. 

‘‘Well I declare! ” cried Mother Bright- 
eyes, “ you surely must be in a hurry.” 

“ Oh, Mother Bright-eyes, please excuse 
me for bumping into you! ” begged Tessie. 
“ I was so busy thinking of something that 
I never saw you.” 

“ The way you hurried along made 
me think that perhaps you were running 
away,” laughed the good-natured pussycat 
mother. 

“Oh, dear no!” exclaimed Tessie, “ Fm 
just starting out to gather some daisies.” 

Humming gaily to herself, the little kitty 
girl tripped along the path that led to the 
daisy field. It was quite a long distance 
from home and she was beginning to feel 


THE FLOWER STORY 


125 


just a little bit tired by the time she got 
there. 

But as soon as she caught sight of all the 
daisies nodding their bright little faces to 
her she forgot all about being tired and be- 
gan to pick them as fast as she could pull 
them off. And, of course, as some daisies 
are bigger than others, she went from place 
to place hunting for the nicest ones. 

When she finally had her paws full with 
as many as she could carry she stopped to 
look around to find out where she was, and, 
would you believe it, everything seemed 
strange to her. 

‘‘ Oh, dear,” she exclaimed, in a wee little 
trembly kind of a voice, '' I believe Fm 
lost!” 

And that’s just what she was. In wander- 
ing about after the daisies she had lost her 


126 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

way. And the more she tried to find her way 
out the more bewildered she became, until 
finally she sat down under a big tree and 
burst out crying. 

Just then she heard some one calling her 
name and there was Billy coming towards 
her. And she was so glad to see him that 
she hugged him tight around the neck. A 
little later they were on their way home with 
their paws full of daisies. 

The next morning, bright and early, the 
two little kittens pulled a long bench out on 
the front pavement and stood all the flowers 
on it. First of all there were the two big 
bunches of daisies that Tessie had gath- 
ered made into little bouquets. And then 
there were the hollyhocks that Mrs. Richpuss 
had given to Billy, as well as sweet peas and 
roses from their own garden. 


THE FLOWER STORY 


I2y 



SHE FINALLY HAD HER PAWS FULL 



128 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Billy had printed a little For Sale ” sign 
and placed it on the bench alongside of the 
flowers, so that the animal folks who passed 
by could see it. 

The first one to stop at the little flower 
stand was Uncle Buff, who lived with the 
Rovers, a doggie family on the other side of 
Kittyway Lane. And as Uncle Buff was a 
nice old doggie gentleman, and a great 
friend of the little animal children, he 
bought three bouquets. And when he paid 
for them he wouldn’t take any change. 

The next one to stop was Daddy Four- 
paws who kept the Animal Land store. 
And when he left he carried two bouquets of 
sweet peas in his paw as well as a pink rose- 
bud in his button-hole. 

By the time dinner was ready every one 
of the flowers had been sold and the bottom 


THE FLOWER STORY 


129 


of Tessie’s little money box was just cov- 
ered with dimes and quarters. 

“ We’ll buy Janie the nicest dress we can 
find,” said Billy, after Tessie had told him 
how much they had taken in. 

‘‘ And if we have any left over we’ll buy 
her a dolly, too,” decided Tessie. 

The next day Mother Cuddles went with 
Tessie to the store to buy Janie a dress. And 
after they had bought a pretty pink one, 
with lace on it, there was just enough money 
left to buy a dolly for the little kitty girl 
who had never owned a dolly in all her life. 

And that same afternoon Tessie and 
Billy took the dress and the dolly down to 
where Janie lived and gave them to her. 
And in all of Kittycat Town it would have 
been hard to find a happier little kitty girl. 

And that’s all. 


X 


THE SCHOOL STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 



130 


THE SCHOOL STORY 


13I 

mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses, and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just 
the same as all other little boys and girls. 
And sometimes they were good and some- 
times they were naughty. 

Down near the lower end of Kittyway 


132 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Lane was the little red brick schoolhouse 
where the animal boys and girls went to 
school. And the teacher of the Animal 
Land school was a doggie lady by the name 
of Miss Pointer. 

Now, Miss Pointer, the long-eared dog- 
gie teacher of the animal children, was very 
well liked by all of her scholars. But she 
did not know this, and for some reason or 
other imagined that the little animal folks 
did not care for her. 

‘‘ If they liked me even the least bit,’’ the 
unhappy little teacher would often say to 
herself, ‘‘ why don’t they study their lessons 
better and try to please me ? No ! No ! ” she 
would repeat over and over again, “ they 
don’t seem to care at all how much trouble 
they make me or how noisy they are.” And 
sometimes poor Miss Pointer would feel so 


THE SCHOOL STORY 


133 


badly about it that she would have a good 
cry all to herself. 

Now, the little puppy children never 
thought that they were causing their teacher 
so much trouble. They were just like other 
little folks who go to school. Sometimes 
they knew their lessons and sometimes they 
had a party or something like that and for- 
got to study them. And as for being noisy, 
you yourself know how hard it is to keep 
from talking in school when the teacher has 
her back turned or is busy writing something 
at the blackboard. 

And sometimes a slate or a book will hit 
the desk a little harder than it should no 
matter how careful one is. And, of course. 
Miss Pointer thought all the time that her 
little animal scholars were doing it just to 
annoy her, 


134 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

One morning, shortly after school had 
started, Miss Pointer called up the little 
puppy class in spelling. There were four 
little puppies in the class but two of them 
were home, sick with the measles. 

After the two little members of the class 
had seated themselves behind the long 
bench in front of the blackboard. Miss 
Pointer called on Mamie Beagle, the little 
puppy girl, to spell rat. 

“ R-A-T,’’ spelt Mamie, without a 
pause. 

“ Spell cat,’’ continued Miss Pointer to 
the little puppy boy. 

But Tommy Beagle, the little puppy boy, 
never even heard her ; he was too busy 
watching a big blue-bottle fly crawling up 
the wall. 

‘‘ Spell cat,” again demanded Miss 


THE SCHOOL STORY 


135 



MISS POINTER CALLED UP THE LITTLE PUPPY CLASS IN 

SPELLING ” 





136 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Pointer in a louder tone. But Tommy 
never even winked. 

The next moment the teacher had him by 
the ear and led him to a stool all by him- 
self. And, worst of all, she put a dunce cap 
on his head. 

When recess time came she sent Billy 
Cuddles out to ring the bell, and, instead of 
ringing it as he should have done, the little 
kitty boy made such a clatter and noise that 
she had to send another little scholar out 
to tell him to stop. 

''Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” sighed poor 
Miss Pointer, " if they would only try to 
please me just a little.” 

A little later, while the class in arithmetic 
was reciting. Miss Pointer told Dickie 
Whiteface to go forward to the blackboard 
and show the others how two-thirds of an 


THE SCHOOL STORY 


137 



SHE SENT BILLY CUDDLES OUT TO RING THE BELL 



138 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

apple could be divided up among four little 
puppy boys. 

“ If you have three little brothers and 
mother gives you two-thirds of an apple to 
divide up among all of you, how much 
would each one get? ” asked the teacher. 

But that was a little too much for Dickie 
to answer without first figuring it out, so he 
turned to the blackboard to divide two- 
thirds of an apple by four little puppy boys. 

Just then Miss Pointer was called into 
another room, and while she was gone every 
one of her little scholars started to talk and 
whisper. 

''Hey, Dickie!” called Tommy Beagle 
to his little puppy chum, who was still 
standing at the blackboard, " draw the 
teacher’s picture.” 

" Yes, go on,” urged Jackie Bowser. 


THE SCHOOL STORY 


139 


So, just for fun, Dickie took the piece of 
chalk and started to draw a picture on the 
blackboard. And, of course, it didn’t look 
any more like Miss Pointer than the man- 
in-the-moon. But just the same the other 
little animal children thought it was too 
funny for anything. 

And while every one was giggling and 
laughing the door opened and in came Miss 
Pointer. She was smiling as she entered the 
room, but just as soon as she caught sight of 
the picture on the blackboard with her name 
under it she looked very, very sorry. 

“Why, Dickie Whiteface!” was all she 
said, but the way she said it made Dickie 
wish that he had never drawn the picture. 
And just as quickly as he could pick up an 
eraser he rubbed it off. 

For the rest of the day Miss Pointer never 


140 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

even smiled the least bit, and all the little 
scholars felt sorry that they had hurt her 
feelings, for there was not one who did not 
like her. 

On the way home from school that day 
Miss Pointer chanced to meet Uncle Buff, 
the good-natured doggie gentleman who 
lived with Mother Rover and her family of 
little puppies. And the little Rovers all 
went to the Animal Land school and had 
Miss Pointer for their teacher. 

“Why, how do you do. Miss Pointer?” 
greeted Uncle Buff, politely lifting his 
hat. 

“ Why, how do you do. Uncle Buff? ” re- 
plied Miss Pointer, looking very sad and 
downhearted. 

“ It’s been a very pleasant day,” re- 
marked Uncle Buff. “But — but — ,” he 


THE SCHOOL STORY 


14I 

hesitated, what in the world makes you 
look so sad? ” he asked. 

I just feel like crying all the time,” ex- 
plained Miss Pointer. “ It seems as though 
the children do everything they can think of 
to make it unpleasant for me. I made up 
my mind to-day not to teach them any 
longer than this week. They’ll have to get 
some one else in my place.” 

Oh, but Miss Pointer,” fairly gasped 
Uncle Buff, “ you surely wouldn’t think of 
doing that! Why, I feel sure that all the 
little animal boys and girls love you dearly. 
Only the other day I heard Lassie tell 
Mother Rover what a good, kind teacher you 
were.” 

‘‘Did she really?” said Miss Pointer, 
looking happier at once. 

‘‘Indeed she did,” Uncle Buff assured 


142 THE SANDMAN :-HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

her, ‘‘ and if I were you I’d keep right on 
teaching.” 

“ I’ll see how things go,” promised Miss 
Pointer, as she shook paws with Uncle Buff 
and went on down the street. 

That same evening, after supper. Uncle 
Buff told all the little Rovers just what their 
teacher had said. And you can imagine how 
surprised they were. 

“ Golly! ” exclaimed Laddie, ‘‘ I hope she 
doesn’t quit or we might get some one we 
didn’t like.” 

“ If I were you boys and girls,” said Uncle 
Buff, ‘‘ I’d study my lessons every day and 
try not to be so noisy. And, then no doubt. 
Miss Pointer will stay.” 

And, of course. Laddie told all the little 
animal boys next day just what Miss 
Pointer was going to do if her scholars did 


THE SCHOOL STORY 


143 


not behave better. And Lassie told all her 
little girl schoolmates the same thing. 

And, would you believe it, the very next 
day all the little animal children knew their 
lessons perfectly, and not a single one of 
them slammed a book down on their desk or 
whispered behind the teacher’s back. And 
from that time on Miss Pointer did not have 
the least bit of trouble. 

I wonder what makes them so differ- 
ent?” said Miss Pointer to Mother Rover, 
some time later. 

I know,” replied Mother Rover; ‘‘it’s 
because they like you.” 

And that’s all. 


XI 


THE DENTIST STORY 

CE upon a time there 



was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 


ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 


144 


THE DENTIST STORY 


145 


mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses, and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just 
the same as all other little boys and girls. 
And sometimes they were good and some- 
times they were naughty. 

One day Mother Cuddles and her kitty 


146 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

children were seated at the table eating din- 
ner and they had just about finished with the 
exception of dessert. Eight pairs of bright 
little eyes were eagerly watching Mother 
Cuddles divide a big custard into the re- 
quired number of pieces. On the top of 
each piece she sprinkled some sugar, for she 
knew that all her little ones had a sweet 
tooth. 

It was cocoanut custard, and all of them 
were very fond of it, especially Billy. As 
soon as he received his piece he started in to 
eat it. And he had only taken one bite 
when something happened. 

'' Ow-wow-wow! ” he howled. 

Goodness me ! ” exclaimed Mother 
Cuddles, ''what’s the matter?” 

" My tooth,” sobbed Billy, finally; " I got 
the toothache,” 


THE DENTIST STORY 


H7 


Mother Cuddles led him over to the win- 
dow and told him to open his mouth. And, 
sure enough, there in one of his back teeth 
was a tiny cavity in which no doubt some of 
the sugar had lodged. 

“ You’ll have to go to the dentist,” said 
Mother Cuddles, and in the meantime I’ll 
put some drops in it.” 

So she got a piece of cotton and putting a 
few drops of the medicine on it she placed it 
carefully into the cavity. Then she poured 
a little of it on a piece of cloth and tied it 
around his face. 

‘‘ That will make it feel better,” she told 
him, ‘‘ but be sure and don’t eat anything 
sweet until after the dentist attends to it.” 
And of course Billy promised not to. 

The very next day, however. Mother 
Cuddles sent him upstairs to her room to get 


148 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

something out of her bureau. And the very 
first thing he spied when he pulled open the 
drawer was a box of candy. 

Now he knew very well that Mother Cud- 
dles never allowed them to take anything 
without first asking for it. But Billy 
thought she would never know if he took 
only one little piece. 

Nor did he happen to think of his tooth, 
so that when he popped a piece of the candy 
into his mouth it nearly jumped his head off. 

He went back to Mother Cuddles trying 
his best to keep from crying, but, despite all 
he could do, the tears rolled down his cheeks. 

‘‘What are you crying for?” Mother 
Cuddles asked him. 

“ I got the toothache,” Billy told her. 

“ And what gave it to you? ” his mother 
wanted to know. 


THE DENTIST STORY 


149 


I took a piece of candy,” said the little 
kitty boy, slowly, hanging his head. 

''You naughty little kitten!” declared 
Mother Cuddles, " I feel just like punish- 
ing you.” 

But Billy was being punished enough, as 
the tooth kept right on aching. So Mother 
Cuddles sent him right off to Doctor Bow- 
ser, the doggie dentist. 

As soon as the doggie dentist looked into 
Billy’s mouth and saw which tooth it was 
he said it would have to come out. 

" But won’t it hurt? ” objected Billy, tim- 
idly. 

"Oh, pshaw!” laughed Doctor Bowser, 
" a brave little kitty boy like you wouldn’t 
mind having a tooth pulled, surely.” 

" Why, do you know,” went on the jolly 
old doggie gentleman, " you remind me for 


150 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

all the world of the queer old fox who went 
to have his tooth pulled/’ 

‘‘How was that?” asked Billy, begin- 
ning to forget all about his own tooth. 

“ Why, you see it was this way,” ex- 
plained Doctor Bowser. “ The queer old 
fox went to the dentist to have a tooth 
pulled just like you, and when he got there 
he was afraid to have it out. So the dentist 
told him a funny story, and, would you be- 
lieve it, he opened his mouth so wide to 
laugh that you could see every tooth he had.” 

And then Doctor Bowser opened his own 
mouth to show Billy just how the queer old 
fox acted. 

“ See if you can do it? ” he asked. 

So Billy opened his mouth when all of a 
sudden in popped the forceps and out came 
the tooth, 


THE DENTIST STORY 


151 



uj h- 


SENT HIM RIGHT OFF TO DOCTOR BOWSER 


152 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 


“ Oh-h-h-h-h ! ” exclaimed Billy, so sur- 
prised that he hardly knew what to say. 

“ Did it hurt? ” asked Doctor Bowser. 
“Not very much,” admitted Billy. 

“ That’s just what I thought,” said the 
wise old doggie dentist. 

And that’s all. 


XII 


THE JACK FROST STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 



153 


154 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 


mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses, and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now the little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just 
the same as all other little boys and girls. 
And sometimes they were good and some- 
times they were naughty. 

One morning, when the little animal folks 


THE JACK FROST STORY 


155 


awoke, they found that it had snowed dur- 
ing the night and covered the ground to the 
depth of several inches. Now you can 
imagine how quickly the little animal boys 
and girls jumped into their clothes and hur- 
ried downstairs to get their breakfast. Be- 
cause ,you see a snowstorm always means 
the same to the little animal folks as it does 
to the little boys and girls here. It means 
that they could go coasting on the hill ! 

‘"My!” cried Buster Cuddles, the little 
kitty boy, as he and his little puppy chum, 
Laddie Rover, started for the hill pulling 
their sleds behind them, ‘‘ Lll bet we’ll 
pretty nearly fly! ” 

When the two little animal boys got to 
the top of the hill they found a number of 
their little friends already there, and among 
them was Jackie Bowser, the little puppy 


156 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

boy. In a very little while the hill was worn 
smooth and shiny and the little animal boys 
started in to race each other. 

The first time Buster Cuddles went the 
furthest, but the next time Jackie Bowser 
beat him by several feet. Now, Buster did 
not like it at all to have Jackie beat him. In 
fact when they walked back up the hill the 
little kitty boy had a frown on his face and 
never said a word all the way up. 

‘‘ Maybe he didn’t like me to beat him,” 
thought Jackie. 

So every time after that the little puppy 
boy let Buster beat him. Jackie would even 
run his sled in the deeper snow outside 
of the track to cut down his speed, so 
that the little kitty boy would come out 
ahead. 

When Jackie got home he told Mother 


THE JACK FROST STORY 


157 



AMONG THEM WAS JACKIE BOWSER, THE LITTLE PUPPY BOY 


158 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Bowser how Buster had beaten him coasting 
on the hill. 

“ But I could have beaten him all hollow 
if Fd have wanted to/’ he assured her. 

And why didn’t you do it? ” asked 
Mother Bowser. 

’Cause — ’cause,” he hesitated, '' I 
thought he might not like it, and I wanted 
him for my chum.” 

‘‘ That’s right,” said Mother Bowser, as 
she patted him on the head. When Buster 
got home, of course, he had to tell Mother 
Cuddles all about it too. 

I beat Jackie Bowser on the hill to-day,” 
he said slowly, ‘‘ but he could have beaten 
me easy if he had wanted to, ’cause he held 
back and let me get ahead.” 

'' And why didn’t he want to beat you? ” 
asked Mother Cuddles. 


THE JACK FROST STORY 159 

Maybe he didn’t like to,” admitted Bus- 
ter. “ But the next time I’m going to let 
him beat me,” he burst out. 

“Whatfor^” 

“ ’Cause I like him,” replied Buster. 

And then Mother Cuddles patted Buster 
on the back just the same as Mother Bowser 
had Jackie. 

The next day was Saturday, and, of 
course, the little animal folks had no school. 
Jackie Bowser had hurried outside to play 
in the snow as soon as he had eaten his 
breakfast. And the first thing he decided to 
do was to make a big snowman. 

He patted a little snowball together in his 
paws until he had it round and smooth. 
Then he began to roll it across the yard 
through the snow. And every time it 
turned around it got bigger and bigger until 


' l6o THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

it was just the right size. After that he 
rolled another ball almost as large as the 
first one and placed them both side by side. 

“ There, Mr. Snowman! ’’ he said, “ that’s 
your head and body. Now I’ll have to make 
you your legs.” 

So he rolled two short, thick, make-believe 
snow legs and placed them under the largest 
one of the two balls of snow. And on top 
of that he carefully placed the other big ball 
of snow for a head. 

“Now he needs a face,” decided Jackie, 
as he started for the house to get several lit- 
tle pieces of coal. And when he came back 
he not only had the little pieces of coal for 
the eyes, nose and mouth, but Mother Bow- 
ser had given him an old high hat to place 
on Mr. Snowman’s head. And the last 
thing of all was to stick two short pieces of 


THE JACK FROST STORY l6l 

broom handle into each side of the body for 
arms. 

“ Howdy-do, Mr. Snowman ! ” cried 
Jackie, after the funny little man in white 
was all made. 

And it wouldn’t surprise me a bit but what 
Mr. Snowman winked at Jackie with one of 
his little coal eyes and drew up a corner of 
his little coal mouth. 

Just then somebody gave a yell behind the 
little puppy boy, and there was Buster Cud- 
dles and Laddie Rover perched on the back 
fence looking at the snowman. 

''Hello!” called Jackie. "Come on 

• j j 

m. 

So both the little animal boys jumped 
down off the fence and raced towards the 
snowman. 

“ Isn’t he a dandy! ” exclaimed Buster, as 


i 62 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

he looked at the snowman from all sides. 

‘‘ He looks smart enough to talk,” de- 
clared Laddie. 

“ ril tell you what let’s do,” suggested 
Jackie, after a bit, let’s start in after din- 
ner and make a Mrs. Snowman right along- 
side of him.” 

But when dinner was over, and the three 
little animal boys got together again, they 
decided to build a snow cave instead of mak- 
ing a Mrs. Snowman. 

First of all they shoveled up a big pile of 
snow and then they hollowed it out inside 
until they had made a little room with a wall 
of snow all around and a little opening in 
front for a door. 

When Mother Bowser looked out of the 
kitchen door a little later the three little ani- 
mal boys had disappeared entirely and she 


THE JACK FROST STORY 


163 

began to wonder where they had gone to so 
quickly. 

And when she went outside to look for 
them all she could see was a big pile of snow 
in the middle of the yard. 

“ Well, I declare,” she exclaimed to her- 
self, “ who would have thought that the 
snow had drifted in a big pile like that! ” 
And just then out from the front of the big 
pile of snow shot a shovelful of loose snow. 
It was Buster Cuddles helping to make the 
little snow room inside. 

Well ! Well ! ” chuckled Mother Bow- 
ser, as she walked down the path and peeped 
into the little hole in front of the big pile 
of snow, that’s where they are! ” 

And, sure enough, the three of them were 
inside working away like little beavers. 
And just then Jackie happened to see her. 


1 64 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

'' Oh, Mother Bowser,” he cried, delight- 
edly, crawl inside and see how nice it 
is!” 

“ Indeed I won’t,” replied Mother Bow- 
ser, very decidedly. “ Do you think I want 
all that snow to fall on me.” 

After Mother Bowser had gone back into 
the house the three little animal boys 
played for a long time in their little snow 
cave. But finally they got tired of it and 
Jackie suggested that they take their skates 
and go down to the duck pond. 

So Buster and Laddie left to get their 
skates, and a little later the three of them 
started down Kittyway Lane toward the 
duck pond. But none of them stopped to 
think that the weather had not been cold 
enough to make the ice thick enough to skate 
on. 


THE JACK FROST STORY 165 

When they got to the pond Laddie picked 
up a big stone and threw it Out on the ice to 
see how thick it was. And it never made the 
least little crack. So all of them hurried to 
put on their skates, and it happened that 
Jackie was the first one to get ready and 
glide out over the smooth, shiny ice. 

“ It’s just fine ! ” he yelled back over his 
shoulder, and the next instant something 
happened. 

“ Crac-c-c-ck ! ” went the ice as it broke 
under his weight, and down he went into the 
water. 

“ Help ! Help ” he shouted, trying to 
keep from sinking by catching hold of the 
floating pieces of ice. 

The next moment Buster had darted out 
on the ice and threw himself down along 
side of the hole where Jackie had gone in. 


1 66 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Then he called to Laddie to catch hold of his 
legs. 

And as soon as Buster had caught hold of 
Jackie’s paws, Laddie began to pull them 
towards shore over the ice. And it wasn’t 
very long before the little puppy boy was 
safe. 

When the three little animal boys started 
for home Jackie thanked Buster over and 
over again for saving him. And all the time 
he felt very glad that he had let the little 
kitty boy beat him coasting on the hill. 

And that’s all. 


XIII 

THE BLIZZARD STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
167 



1 68 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

One day when Curly Bowser, the little 


THE BLIZZARD STORY 


169 


puppy girl, was on her way home from school 
it started in to snow, and by the time she 
reached the front gate her little red sweater 
was almost white with the big feathery 
flakes. 

A few minutes later, Jackie, her little 
puppy brother, came racing into the house 
with his bright little eyes fairly dancing he 
was so excited. 

‘‘ Oh, Mother Bowser! he shouted, “ it’s 
snowing like everything and now we can go 
coasting again ! ” 

‘‘ I’m not so sure of that,” replied Mother 
Bowser. It looks very much to me as 
though we might have a blizzard, and if we 
do, there’ll be too many drifts to go sled- 
ding.” 

And, sure enough, that’s just what hap- 
pened. The snow kept coming down 


170 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

faster and faster, while the wind kept piling 
it up into little heaps. And by the time sup- 
per was ready the air outside was so full of 
flying snow that the two little Bowsers could 
no longer see the chicken-house through the 
kitchen window. And all the time the wind 
blew harder and harder, piling the snow into 
bigger drifts. 

Just as it was getting dark. Curly looked 
out of the window and saw someone com- 
ing up through the yard towards the house. 
The next moment there came a knock at the 
door and there was Uncle Buff, the doggie 
gentleman who lived close by with the 
Beagle family. And he was so covered with 
snow that he looked like a snowman. 

'' Goodness me ! ” exclaimed Mother Bow- 
ser, in surprise, what in the world brings 
you out in such a storm? ” 


THE BUZZARD STORY 


171 





172 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

And then Uncle Buff told her how Laddie 
Rover and a little puppy chum of his had 
gone for a walk after school and must have 
got lost in the snow, as no one knew where 
they were. 

I hurried over to find out if it was your 
Jackie who had gone with Laddie,’’ ex- 
plained Uncle Buff, “ but I see he’s here, so 
I’ll have to be off right away and help find 
them.” 

“ Do you think they will have to stay out 
in the storm all night? ” asked Curly, after 
Uncle Buff had gone. 

I hope not,” answered Mother Bowser. 
‘‘ If they do. I’m afraid — ” here the kind- 
hearted mother doggie stopped and burst out 
crying because she felt so badly about it. 

And all the time Jackie never said a word, 
for he was busy thinking of Laddie Rover 


THE BLIZZARD STORY 


m 


and the other little puppy boy who were out 
in the storm all by themselves. And he kept 
wondering to himself who the other little 
puppy boy might be. 

And then all of a sudden he remembered 
something he had heard that day at school 
during recess. 

‘‘Why, it’s Paddy Whiteface!” he ex- 
claimed quietly to himself. “ I heard Lad- 
die ask him to go along out to Farmer Brisk’s 
place after school.” 

And a few minutes later, when Mother 
Bowser went into the front room to put coal 
on the fire, Jackie grabbed up his cap, and, 
opening the kitchen door, bolted out into 
the storm. 

It was all he could do to pull the door shut 
after him, and for a little while he could 
hardly get his breath as he went stumbling 


174 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

through the big snow drifts. And the wind 
blew the icy snow so hard against his face 
that it hurt, and it got down his back and 
into his ears. 

But the little puppy boy was very brave 
and went trudging along through the deep 
snow in the direction of Farmer Brisk’s. 
And, as he was only a little chap, at times he 
had to crawl through drifts up to his waist. 

And finally he began to feel very tired and 
sleepy and felt like lying down on one of 
the big soft piles of snow and taking a nap. 
But something seemed to whisper to him that 
if he did he would never see Mother Bowser 
again. 

And then, just as he was about to give up, 
he ran into Farmer Brisk’s barn, and it sur- 
prised him so that he gave a shout of delight. 
But what was more surprising still was when 


THE BLIZZARD STORY 175 

he went stumbling through the door and saw 
Laddie and Paddy sitting before him on a 
pile of hay. And for the next few minutes 
these three little puppy boys nearly ate each 
other up they were so happy. 

“ \Vhy didn’t you tell Farmer Brisk where 
you were^ ” asked Jackie after a little while. 

“We were afraid we couldn’t find the 
house in all this storm,” Laddie told him. 

But Jackie felt sure that he could get 
safely to the house, so he opened the^ door 
and went out into the storm to tell Farmer 
Brisk where they were. And when Jackie 
reached the house and Farmer Brisk opened 
the door he was so surprised that he hardly 
knew what to say. 

It was long after midnight before the 
three little puppy boys arrived home in 
Farmer Brisk’s big bob sled. And each 


176 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

little puppy boy was hugged and kissed 
and tucked warm and snug in his little 
bed. 

The next morning, when Jackie awakened, 
he began to sneeze and snuffle, and Mother 
Bowser felt sure that he had taken a cold by 
being out in the snow storm. So she made 
him a glass of hot lemonade and told him to 
drink it. 

When Jackie took the first sip of it he 
made a wry face and wrinkled up his nose; 
for hot lemonade without any sugar in it is 
not a bit nice to take. 

‘‘ You must drink it,” declared Mother 
Bowser, ‘‘ if you want to get rid of your 
cold.” 

So Jackie shut both of his eyes and gulped 
it all down in three or four big swallows. 

But the hot lemonade didn’t help him at 


THE BLIZZARD STORY 


177 


all as he sneezed and snuffled harder than 
ever. So Mother Bowser made up her mind 
to make him some boneset tea. 

And when the boneset tea was ready 
Mother Bowser filled a cup with it and told 
Jackie to drink it all. And he set it down 
on the table and promised to drink it a little 
later. 

But before he could even make up his 
mind to taste it, Buster Cuddles, the little 
kitty boy, came in to see him. And the first 
thing Buster saw was the cup of boneset tea 
sitting on the table. 

What’s that? ” he asked. 

That’s a new kind of drink,” Jackie told 
him. ‘‘ It beats lemonade all hollow.” 

And as Buster looked very much as though 
he would like to taste it, Jackie handed him 
the cup. But one swallow was all he took, 


178 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

because it was so bitter that it nearly made 
him choke. 

During the rest of the afternoon several 
more of Jackie’s little animal friends came 
to see him and all of them were treated to a 
drink of that boneset tea until there wasn’t 
a drop left. And .Jackie, himself, hadn’t 
even tasted it. 

But the next day his cold was much worse, 
and Mother Bowser had to send for Doctor 
Tabby, the kittycat doctor who treated all 
the sick little animal boys and girls. And 
Doctor Tabby made him take some medicine 
that was every bit as bitter as boneset tea. 

And that’s all. 


THE BLIZZARD STORY 


179 




XIV 


THE CHRISTMAS STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
j8o 



THE CHRISTMAS STORY l8i 

mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

Christmas was only a few days off and all 


1 82 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

the little animal folks were busy talking 
about Santa Claus and what they expected 
him to bring them. The Santa Claus of Ani- 
mal Land was a jolly little pussycat who 
lived far away from the little animal chil- 
dren of Kittyway Lane. Once a year, on 
Christmas Eve, he loaded up his fleet little 
airship with the things that the little kitty 
and puppy children liked the best and flew 
straightway off for the little brick chimneys 
down which he crawled with his bag of toys. 

Ever since last Christmas, Betty Cuddles, 
the little kitty girl, had been saving her pen- 
nies. Santa Claus had brought her a little 
toy savings bank, and it was the cutest thing 
you ever saw for a little kitty girl to put her 
pennies in. 

It looked like a little house made out of 
logs, with a little doggie wearing a red cap 


THE CHRISTMAS STORY 183 

Standing beside it. And every time Betty 
gave the little doggie a penny he would bow 
very politely to her and drop the penny 
through a hole in the side of the house. 

“ I wonder how many pennies Fve got? ” 
said Betty to herself as she jiggled the little 
bank up and down to hear them rattle. For 
the little kitty girl was thinking of spending 
her money for Christmas. 

So she tucked the little toy bank carefully 
up in her apron and went to look for Mother 
Cuddles, as Mother Cuddles had the key 
that opened the door in the front of the lit- 
tle wooden house. 

“ What are you going to do with all your 
pennies? ” asked Mother Cuddles, after she 
had opened the bank and Betty had poured 
them all out in her lap to count them. 

Fm going to buy some Christmas pres- 


1 84 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

ents/’ replied Betty. Wouldn’t you, 
Mother Cuddles? ” she asked. 

“ That would be very nice,” agreed 
Mother Cuddles. 

Just then, however, Betty happened to 
think of something. ^ 

Oh, but Mother Cuddles,” she ex- 
claimed, “ perhaps I ought not to do that.” 

'‘What do you mean?” asked Mother 
Cuddles. 

“ Maybe Santa Claus wouldn’t like me 
to,” explained Betty. “ I might buy some 
one a present just like Santa Claus was go- 
ing to give them, and then how cross he’d 
feel.” 

“ I don’t believe he’d care,” smiled 
Mother Cuddles. “ That is,” she added, 
“ if you don’t spend your pennies for foolish 
things.” 


THE CHRISTMAS STORY 185 

Well, anyway, the next day Betty put on 
her little fur coat and hat and started for 
Daddy Fourpaw’s store, pulling Buster’s 
sled behind her. In one of her little coat 
pockets was Mother Cuddles’ big pocket- 
book fairly bulging with pennies. 

“ Oh, isn’t it lovely! ” thought Betty to 
herself, as the big snowflakes went drifting 
past and she went trudging merrily along 
with both her little paws warm and snug in 
her little muff. 

“Why, how-do-you-do?” greeted Daddy 
Fourpaws, the good-natured doggie store- 
keeper, as the little kitty girl came into the 
store with her coat all covered with snow. 

“ I’m quite well, thank you,” replied 
Betty, politely, “ and I’ve come to buy some 
Christmas presents.” 

So Daddy showed her all the Christmas 


1 86 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

things that could be bought for a few pen- 
nies each. And as soon as she bought any- 
thing he wrapped it up in nice white paper 
all ready to take home. 

When Betty started for home her sled 
was piled up with packages. And the little 
kitty girl herself was as happy as a lark. 

‘‘Well! Well!’’ declared Mother Cud- 
dles as Betty stopped at the kitchen door, 
“ you look just like Santa Claus himself! ” 

That same evening, when supper was over 
and all the little Cuddleses were clustered 
around the table in the sitting-room, Betty 
asked Mother Cuddles about Santa Claus. 

“ How does he come. Mother Cuddles? ” 
she wanted to know. 

“ He travels in an airship,” explained 
Mother Cuddles, “ and goes faster than the 
wind.” 


\ 

THE CHRISTMAS STORY 187 

‘‘Will he bring everybody a present?” 
she asked. 

“ I feel sure he will,” answered Mother 
Cuddles; “ that is, every good little animal 
boy and girl.” 

Betty swung her little feet to and fro be- 
tween the chair rungs just like she always 
did when she wanted to find something out 
and was half afraid to ask. 

But finally she managed to ask it in a 
rather doubtful, whispery kind of a voice: 

“ Have I been a good little kitty girl. 
Mother Cuddles?” 

“Do you think you have?” smiled 
Mother Cuddles. 

“ All but once or twice,” admitted Betty 
slowly, “ and — and — maybe if you don’t 
tell Santa Claus he won’t think of it at 
all.” 


1 88 THE SARD MAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

“ Maybe he won’t,” agreed Mother Cud- 
dles. 

Well, anyway, the very next day Betty 
decided to write Santa* Claus a letter and 
tell him what she would like to have. 

So she got out the pen and ink and sat 
down at the table with a sheet of paper be- 
fore her to write on. And, would you be- 
lieve it, she wanted so many things that she 
could hardly write them all on the paper. 

‘‘ Goodness ! ” declared Mother Cuddles, 
when Betty showed her the list, I’m afraid 
Santy will think you a very greedy little 
kitty girl wanting so much.”* 

‘‘ Do you think he might? ” asked Betty. 

I feel almost sure he would,” replied 
Mother Cuddles. 

So Betty made up her mind to write an- 
other one, and this is what she wrote : 


THE CHRISTMAS STORY 189 

“ Dear Santy — Please bring me lots of 
toys. Betty.” 

But as soon as she read it over she felt that 
even that sounded a little bit selfish and 
greedy. 

So she wrote a third one and asked Santy 
to bring her a dolly, without saying a word 
about the other things she wanted. 

'' There,” said Mother Cuddles, when 
Betty showed her the last letter, ‘‘ that 
sounds a great deal better. No doubt he 
will bring you some of the other things even 
if you didn’t mention them.” 

Now, of course, all the other little Cud- 
dieses were just as much interested in 
Santa Claus as Betty. And none more so 
than Buster. 

I wish I could stay awake the night be- 
fore Christmas,” the little kitty boy said to 


190 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

his little puppy playmate, Laddie Rover, 

Fd just like to see him fix the Christmas 
tree.” 

‘‘ Maybe he won’t bring any Christmas 
trees this year,” replied Laddie. 

’Course he will,” declared Buster, ‘‘ who 
ever heard of Santy coming without his 
Christmas trees.” 

'' But maybe he won’t have any room for 
them in his airship,” persisted Laddie. 

Just see how many toys he has to take 
along.” 

Buster Cuddles felt very sure, however, 
that Santa Claus would manage to bring 
enough Christmas trees with him, even 
though he had a great many toys to bring 
in his airship. But, nevertheless, just as 
soon as he got home he asked Mother Cud- 
dles whether Santa Claus had ever forgot- 


THE CHRISTMAS STORY 


191 





EVEN THAT SOUNDED A LITTLE BIT SELFISH AND GREEDY 


99 



192 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

ten to bring the Christmas trees on Christ- 
mas Eve. 

“ No, indeed! ” Mother Cuddles told him. 
“ Just think how disappointed all the little 
animal folks would be if they awoke on 
Christmas morning and found that Santa 
had forgotten to bring a tree.” 

‘‘ But suppose he shouldn’t have room for 
them in his airship,” asked Buster, ‘‘what 
would he do then*? ” 

“ I guess he’d have to leave them at home,” 
answered Mother Cuddles. “ But don’t you 
worry one bit,” she told him, “ I feel sure 
that good old Santa will find a way.” 

That night before Buster fell asleep he 
thought about the Christmas tree and how 
disappointed he would be if Santa failed to 
bring one. And when he finally closed his 
eyes he had the funniest kind of a dream 


THE CHRISTMAS STORY 


193 


about Santa Claus coming to Animal Land 
on Christmas Eve without a single Christ- 
mas tree in his airship ! 

So, the next morning, when he awoke, the 
little kitty boy made up his mind to get a 
Christmas tree for himself and stand it in 
the corner where Santy always left their 
presents, so that he could very easily find it 
if he needed it. 

After school was out he went home for his 
little hatchet and then started for the woods 
back of the schoolhouse. 

It was beginning to snow when he left the 
house, but nothing pleased him more than 
to go walking through the snow. When he 
got to the woods he had no trouble at all in 
finding just the kind of a Christmas tree he 
wanted, so he cut it down with his little 
hatchet and started back home with the tree 


194 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 


over his shoulder. And as soon as he got 
home he took it right up to the playroom and 
stood it in one corner where Santa could find 
it. 


And that’s all. 


THE CHRISTMAS STORY 


195 



“ STARTED BACK HOME WITH THE TREE OVER HIS SHOULDER ” 


XV 


THE SANTA CLAUS STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 
196 



THE SANTA CLAUS STORY 197 

mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It was 
here the doggie mothers lived together with 
their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

Away up north in the land of ice and snow 


198 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

lived the pussycat Santa Claus of the little 
animal children. All year long he had been 
busy making toys so that he would have 
enough to go around when he visited the lit- 
tle animal boys and girls on the night before 
Christmas. 

Of course Santa Claus did not do all the 
work by himself, for he could never have 
made so many toys without having someone 
to help him. Up at his home near the North 
Pole lived a band of little kittycats who 
helped him make the toys. And such a busy 
little band of happy little workers you never 
saw in all your life. No matter what they 
were doing, whether they were making dolls, 
or stuffing colored balls, or putting shiny 
wheels on things, they were always whistling 
and singing. 

Now the time was drawing near when 


THE SANTA CLAUS STORY 


199 


Santa Claus had to start for Kittycat Town 
with his load of toys. So the jolly little 
pussycat began to load his airship. And it 
was quite surprising how many dolls and 
things Santa could pack away in his fleet lit- 
tle airship. 

After he had carefully packed all the toys 
away he went back into his house to read the 
letters that had just arrived from some of the 
little animal folks. 

“ Aha ! ” he exclaimed, as he picked up the 
first one, “ here’s a letter from little Betty 
Cuddles!” 

“ Well! Well! ” he declared, as he looked 
it over, “ I see she’s not a bit selfish. She 
only asks for a dolly.” 

“ Let me see,” thought Santa to himself, 
“ I just wonder what kind of a little kitty 
girl Betty has been.” 


200 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

So he opened a great big book on the table 
and hunted up Betty’s name. And, would 
you believe it, there was not a single black 
mark on Betty’s page, so good old Santa 
Claus knew that she had been a very good 
little kitty girl. 

‘‘Very good! Very good!” nodded 
Santa, as he closed the book. “ I think little 
Betty deserves some extra toys.” 

Snow was beginning to fall when Santa 
Claus climbed into his airship a little later 
all ready to start. It was just getting dark, 
and away off in the distance, where tiny 
lights were twinkling, the little animal boys 
and girls were pressing their noses against 
the window-panes and wondering whether 
Santa Claus had started. 

“Merry Christmas to you all! ” sang out 
Santa Claus, as the little airship began to 


THE SANTA CLAUS STORY 


201 


roar and shake and finally flew upwards 
through the big feathery snow flakes. 

‘‘Merry Christmas, Santa Claus!’’ 
shouted all the little kitty cats below. 

On and on flew the fleet little airship as 
the little pussycat Santa Claus, snug and 
warm in his suit of fur, sent it straight as an 
arrow towards the little brick chimneys of 
Kittycat Town. 

“ Heigh-ho! ” he chuckled, as he dropped 
gently down on one of the little snow- 
covered roofs. And then, quick as a flash, he 
was out of his airship, and slinging a bag of 
toys over his shoulder, he disappeared down 
the little chimney. 

And the very first thing he saw when he 
came out through the fireplace below was a 
little kitty girl lying in bed sound, sound 
asleep. It was Betty Cuddles, the same lit- 


202 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

tie kitty girl who had written him a letter 
asking for a doll. 

Now, Betty had coaxed Mother Cuddles 
to let her sleep downstairs so that she might 
catch a glimpse of Santa Claus when he came 
that night with his bag of toys. But the 
Sandman had got there first and the little 
kitty girl had fallen asleep. 

In a minute or two Santa was through, 
and away he went up the chimney again and 
off he flew. For there were many other lit- 
tle houses to visit before the sun rose on 
Christmas morning. 

Betty Cuddles, the little kitty girl, was 
still sound asleep when morning came. It 
had stopped snowing and the sun was shin- 
ing brightly. 

All of a sudden a merry little sunbeam 
came creeping through the window and 


THE SANTA CLAUS STORY 


203 



ii 


HE DISAPPEARED DOWN THE LITTLE CHIMNEY 




204 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

touched one of her furry little paws, sticking 
out from under the big woolly quilt. And 
then it began to crawl upwards, slowly, 
slowly, slowly, until it shone right in Betty’s 
face. The little kitty girl rubbed her sleepy 
eyes once or twice and then sat up in 
bed. 

For just a moment she did not remember 
what day it was. And then all of a sudden 
she caught sight of the Christmas tree and 
all the toys that Santa Claus had brought 
them. The next instant she was out of bed 
and racing up the stairs to call Mother Cud- 
dles. 

‘‘ Oh, Mother Cuddles,” she cried, “ come 
downstairs as quick as you can and see what 
Santa brought I ” 

Just then the rest of the little Cuddleses 
came rushing out into the hallway. 


THE SANTA CLAUS STORY 205 

‘'Has Santa Claus been here?” asked 
Buster, breathlessly. 

“You ought to see what’s downstairs!” 
Betty told him. “ He brought a Christmas 
tree, and lots and lots of things! ” 

“ Whee-e-e-e ! ” shouted Buster delight- 
edly, as he dashed down the stairs followed 
by his seven excited little kitty brothers and 
sisters. 

And, sure enough, there was a Christmas 
tree all a-sparkle and a-glitter with its pretty 
ornaments. And right under it were a num- 
ber of toys — just the kind for little kitty 
boys and girls. 

Here and there about the room hung eight 
little stockings fairly bursting with goodies. 
There was little candy mice and sugared 
pop-corn and lollypops, and lots of other 
things that Santa Claus puts in Christmas 


2o6 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

stockings for the little animal children. 

So it was no wonder that these eight little 
kittens of Mather Cuddles had the merriest 
kind of a time looking over their presents, 
and pulling the surprises out of their stock- 
ings. And so it was with all the other little 
animal children who lived in the little brick 
houses of Kittycat Town. Not one had 
been forgotten on that merry Christmas 
morning. 

And that’s all. 


THE SANTA CLAUS STORY 


207 





XVI 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 



NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
W Kittycat Town. And 
^ right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 


ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around with a fence in front to 
shut it in. It was here the pussycat mothers 
lived together with their little kitty children. 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 


209 


On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It was 
here the doggie mothers lived together with 
their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

One day Mother Cuddles, the pussycat 
mother, had sent her little kitty boy, Buster, 
down to Daddy Fourpaws store to buy her 


210 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

some sugar, and when he got there he found 
Uncle Buff, the doggie gentleman, talking 
very earnestly about something or other to 
the good-natured doggie storekeeper. 

You don’t mean to say you haven’t heard 
about it? ” said Uncle Buff, looking greatly 
surprised. 

“ I don’t know the least thing about it,” 
replied Daddy. 

‘^Well! Well! Well!” chuckled Uncle 
Buff. ‘‘ Why, the paper to-night is just full 
of it.” 

‘‘ I haven’t had a chance to look at the 
paper yet,” explained Daddy, “ but just as 
soon as I wait on Buster here I’m going to 
read all about it.” 

‘‘ It’s going to be the greatest thing you 
ever heard of,” went on Uncle Buff. 
‘‘ There’ll be a parade most every day and 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 


211 


the animal folks will come from miles 
around just to see the sights. Why, just 
think — they’re going to have a parade for 
the school children ! ” 

‘Won’t that be fine?” declared Daddy. 

“ And one evening they’re going to put off 
fire-works,” continued Uncle Buff, “ dozens 
and dozens of sky-rockets and fizzers and 
pin- wheels and things like that. Just think 
of it!” 

“ And you say it tells you about it in the 
paper to-day? ” asked Daddy. 

“ Yes, sir, every word of it,” replied Uncle 
Buff. “ It’s going to be called the Animal- 
Land Celebration, in honor of the time that 
the animal folks first came to Animal Land.” 

Now do you know that Daddy was so anx- 
ious to read all about it in the paper that he 
could hardly wait until he was through with 


212 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Buster. And as for Buster himself, why the 
little kitty boy was so excited at what he 
had heard that he forgot all about what he 
wanted. 

‘'What will you have, Buster?'’ asked 
Daddy, pleasantly. 

“Why — why — ,” stammered the little 
kitty boy, “I — I — want,” here he 
stopped and watched Uncle Buff disappear 
through the door. “ What did he say about 
that parade? ” he asked suddenly. 

“What parade?” asked Daddy. 

“ Why, don’t you know? ” replied Buster. 
“ The parade for the school children.” 

“You mean when we have the Celebra- 
tion?” said Daddy. 

“Yes, that’s it!” exclaimed Buster, 
eagerly. 

“ I’ll tell you what let’s do,” suggested 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 213 

Daddy, “ you tell me what Mother Cuddles 
sent you for, and after I get it ready we’ll 
look over the paper together and find out 
all about it. Now, what will you have — 
flour, beans, potatoes, oatmeal, sugar — ” 
‘‘Sugar! Sugar!” repeated Buster. 
That’s it — two pounds of sugar! ” 

So as soon as Daddy had weighed out the 
sugar and tied it up in a bag the two of them 
got out the paper and looked at the first page 
to find out about the Celebration. And, 
sure enough, there it was at the top of the 
page in big black letters ! 

Now, I couldn’t begin to tell you all that 
it said about the good time that was coming, 
but anyway when Buster got home with his 
bag of sugar he was so excited about it that 
Mother Cuddles couldn’t say a word to him 
for at least ten minutes. 


214 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

And, of course, the other animal children 
in the neighborhood were just as wild about 
it as he was. When you saw two or three of 
the little animal boys and girls talking to- 
gether you could be very sure that they were 
talking about the coming Celebration. 

Bright and early the following Monday 
morning the Celebration started, and all the 
little animal folks, as well as the older folks, 
were trying to make as much noise as they 
knew how. 

Outside, on the Cuddleses’ front pave- 
ment, stood the eight little Cuddleses, and 
every last one of them was trying to make a 
noise. Buster and Betty were beating on 
the bottom of an old wash-boiler with two 
sticks, while Tommy and Billy were bang- 
ing two pieces of tin down on the sidewalk. 
And another one was blowing a horn, while 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 


215 


Still another was ringing a bell. And the 
others were yelling at the top of their voices. 

‘'My goodness!” groaned poor Mother 
Cuddles, holding her paws over her ears, “ I 
hope it don’t last very long.” 

In a little while, however, the whistles 
stopped blowing, and only once in a while 
could you hear someone give a whoop. But 
away off in the distance the band was still 
playing a tune. 

“Wasn’t it jolly!” cried Buster, as he 
came rushing into the kitchen after it was 
all over. 

“ It must have been,” smiled Mother Cud- 
dles, “ the way it sounded.” 

All that week during the Celebration the 
animal children were to have no school, and 
you can imagine how delighted they were. 
And not only that, but the very next day the 


2 i 6 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

little school children were going to have a 
parade. 

So that same afternoon the little scholars 
of the Animal-Land school gathered at the 
schoolhouse to have Miss Sallie and Miss 
Pointer, the two doggie teachers, show them 
how to march. 

''You’ll march four in a row,” Miss Sal- 
lie told them, " and be sure and keep in 
step.” 

So they all got into line, and when Miss 
Sallie gave the word to march away they 
went like a troop of little soldiers. 

" One-two! One-two! One-two! ” counted 
Miss Sallie; and, do you know, every little 
animal kiddie there kept in step. 

" Won’t it be splendid! ” said Miss Sallie 
to Miss Pointer. " Do you know, I can 
hardly wait until to-morrow comes! ” 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 


217 


And if Miss Sallie found it hard to wait 
how much harder do you think it was for the 
little animal children? Why, that night 
when they went to bed some of them 
marched miles and miles in a big parade. 
And Mr. Sandman was captain. 

As soon as Buster was through drilling at 
the schoolhouse he hurried away to find 
Uncle Buff, because the doggie gentleman 
had told him to come home as soon as he 
could as he had something to tell him. And 
when Uncle Buff told him what it was 
Buster nearly went wild with delight. And 
from then until dark the two of them worked 
together as busily as bees. 

The next afternoon Kittyway Lane was so 
packed with the animal folks that you could 
hardly get along. But they didn’t have 
long to wait, for the parade started right 


2 i 8 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

after dinner. And, when the big brass band 
started to play, away went the little animal 
children marching in step. And each little 
face was eager and happy. 

Right after the big brass band in the 
parade came a little float showing a tiny 
schoolhouse and in front of it sat Buster 
driving one of Daddy’s long-eared donkeys. 
And that little toy schoolhouse was what 
Uncle Buff and Buster had been working on 
the day before. 

All that week the little animal boys and 
girls had the time of their lives joining in the 
fun around them, and each one of them was 
sorry when the last dav of the Celebration 
drew near. Saturday was the closing day, 
and in the afternoon they were to hold a big 
parade. 

Now, this was the parade in which they 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 


2ig 



LITTLE FLOAT SHOWING A TINY SCHOOLHOUSE 


220 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

were going to have a number of floats, and, 
of course, every one was wondering what 
they would be like. In fact, the doggie gen- 
tleman who had charge of the parade had 
offered prizes for the three prettiest floats. 
And, just think, the first prize was ten dol- 
lars ! 

‘'Golly! ” exclaimed Buster Cuddles, the 
little kitty boy, when he heard the news, “ I 
wish I could get up a float! ” 

“ If you want to try. I’ll help you,” offered 
his little kitty sister, Betty. 

Mother Cuddles was in the room at the 
time, and, of course, overheard what they 
were saying. But she thought that Buster 
and Betty were only fooling. 

“ Wouldn’t it be fine,” she laughed, “ to 
hear them say that Buster Cuddles won the 
first prize.” 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 


221 


“Golly! ” exclaimed Buster, again, with 
shining eyes. 

Well, anyway, for the next half hour the 
little kitty boy sat in his chair with his eyes 
half closed and you might have thought that 
he was going to sleep. But he wasn’t sleepy 
at all ; he was thinking about that ten-dollar 
prize for the best float. 

And then, all of a sudden, he jumped up 
out of his chair like a regular jumping 
jack. 

“ Whoopee! ” he yelled. 

“ Goodness me,” gasped Mother Cuddles, 
as she caught sight of him disappearing 
through the door, “ what in the world’s going 
on?” 

If she had looked out of the window just 
then she would have seen Buster running 
down the street as hard as he could go. And 


222 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

he turned off at the little lane that led to 
Farmer Brisk’s. 

He ran every step of the way, so it was 
no wonder that by the time he reached the 
farmer doggie’s place he could hardly speak. 

“ Dapple — float — ten dollars ! ” was all 
he could say. 

And, of course. Farmer Brisk had no more 
idea what he wanted, than the man in the 
moon. 

So Buster had to explain that he wanted to 
borrow the little dapple gray pony to pull a 
little float that he was going to make and 
maybe win the ten-dollar prize. 

‘‘You don’t say,” laughed the good-na- 
tured farmer doggie. “ Well, I’d hate to see 
you miss winning that prize so I guess I’ll 
have to let you have the pony together with 
the little wagon.” 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 223 

Now, you can imagine how eager and ex- 
cited Buster was when he drove into his back- 
yard and told Betty what he was going to 
do. And his little kitty sister promised to 
help. 

When the parade started the following 
afternoon Buster sat astride the little dapple 
gray pony who was pulling a little wooden 
wagon, on which sat Betty in a big basket. 
And all around her were flowers. 

Just as soon as Buster’s float came along 
the doggie judge marked something down in 
his little book, and when he announced the 
winners a little later the first name he called 
was Buster Cuddles. 

Hurrah! ” shouted that little kitty boy. 

Hurrah! ” yelled Betty. 

And then both of them started for home as 
hard as they could go to tell Mother Cuddles. 


224 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

“ Betty gets half of it,” Buster told her, 
‘‘ because, you see,” he explained, ‘‘ if it 
wasn’t for Betty sitting in the baskets and 
looking so cute we’d never gotten a cent! ” 

And that evening, when the eight little 
Cuddleses went to bed, as tired and happy as 
any little kittens could possibly be, they all 
wished that the Animal-Land Celebration 
would come soon again. 

And that’s all. 


THE CELEBRATION STORY 


225 



AND ALL AROUND HER WERE FLOWERS 



XVII 


THE POPCORN STORY 

E upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around with a fence in front to 
shut it in. It was here the pussycat mothers 
lived together with their little kitty children. 

226 



THE POPCORN STORY 


22y 


On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses, and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around were just the same with a 
fence in front to shut them in. It was here 
the doggie mothers lived together with their 
little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

Right across the street from the little Cud- 
dieses home on Kittyway Lane, in one of the 
little brick houses of the doggie folks, lived 


228 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

a doggie mother by the name of Mother 
Whiteface. And Mother Whiteface had 
one little puppy boy by the name of Dickie 
and one little puppy girl by the name of 
Beula. 

One day while Mother Whiteface was 
cleaning upstairs in the attic she came across 
the bag in which she always kept the pop- 
corn. And, would you believe it, that bag 
was nearly empty. Her little puppy chil- 
dren were very fond of popcorn and all win- 
ter long they had used it in different ways. 
Sometimes they made molasses candy and 
mixed the popcorn with it. And then as 
soon as it was cool enough to handle they 
would shape it into big, golden, molasses- 
coated popcorn balls. 

ril just take the nicest ear out and keep 
it for seed to plant in the garden this spring,” 


THE POPCORN STORY 


229 


decided Mother Whiteface, and the rest 
the children can have.” 

So when Dickie, her little puppy boy, came 
home from school that afternoon she gave 
him the four ears of popcorn that was left in 
the bag. 

‘'May I pop it right away*?” asked 
Dickie, eagerly. 

“ If you are careful and don’t get it all 
over the kitchen,” she replied. Sometimes, 
you know, you open the popper just a little 
bit too soon and two or three grains that 
haven’t burst will go off with a pop and 
scatter popcorn all over the room.” But 
Dickie promised to be careful, so Mother 
Whiteface told him he might do it. 

The first thing, of course, was to shell the 
popcorn, and just as he had finished doing 
this he caught sight of Laddie Rover, his 


230 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

little puppy chum, making motions to him 
through the window. 

‘‘Hurry up!” yelled Laddie, as Dickie 
raised the window and stuck his head out to 
see what was wanted; “ we’re going to play 
a game of ball! ” 

Now it was quite surprising how quickly 
Dickie forgot all about the popcorn. As 
soon as he heard Laddie say baseball he 
picked up his bat and ran out of the house. 

Now, at school that afternoon, during re- 
cess, Beula Whiteface, Dickie’s little sister, 
had been playing bean-bag with another lit- 
tle puppy girl. The bean-bag belonged to 
the other little puppy girl and Beula made 
up her mind to make herself one just as soon 
as she got home. 

It took but a little while to sew up the 
little square bag to put the beans in, but 


THE POPCORN STORY 


231 


when Beula asked Mother Whiteface for the 
beans there was not one in the house. 

Oh, dear! ” pouted Beula, I can’t make 
it after all!” 

Just then she saw the dish of popcorn on 
the table that Dickie had shelled, and, 
would you believe it, she dropped every 
grain of it into the little cloth bag. 

‘‘ There,” she said, as she sewed it shut, 

they’ll be every bit as good as beans.” 

Now when Dickie came back home from 
playing ball the first thing he thought of was 
the popcorn, and when he asked about it 
Beula told him what she had done with 
it. 

And you know how little folks are some- 
times when they have something and some- 
one else takes it without asking. It made 
Dickie quite angry, and almost before he 


232 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

knew it he was scolding Beula and telling 
her how mean she was. 

Before Mother Whiteface could say a 
word Beula had run upstairs crying as 
though her heart would break. And when 
she came down again she had taken every 
grain of the popcorn out of the bag and put 
it in a dish. 

And when she handed it to Dickie he felt 
so ashamed of himself that he hardly knew 
what to say. In fact he felt so badly about 
the way he had scolded his little sister that 
he took several of his pennies and hurried 
down to Daddy Fourpaw’s store to buy her 
enough beans for her bean bag. And when 
he gave them to her the little puppy girl told 
him how sorry she felt that she had taken 
the popcorn without asking. But Dickie 
told her it didn’t matter one bit. 


THE POPCORN STORY 


233 


The next day, about the middle of the 
afternoon, Dickie happened to think of the 
popcorn, and as Mother Whiteface had gone 
out for a little while, he thought it would be 
a good time to pop it. So when Beula came 
into the house a little later she found him 
standing in front of the stove shaking the 
popper. 

He had a red hot fire in the stove and it 
was quite exciting to hear the little grains 
jump up and down as they burst open. 

Poppity-pop-pop ! Poppity-pop-pop ! they 
went, just like a whole crowd of little ani- 
mal boys shooting off pop guns. 

Dickie wasn’t quite sure whether Beula 
wanted to help him pop the popcorn or not; 
so he didn’t say a word to her. But just as 
soon as the little puppy girl heard the first 
poppity-pop-pop she came dancing over to 


234 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

the stove and Dickie could tell by her face 
that she wanted to hold the popper. 

Oh, Dickie,” she asked, suddenly, 
doesn’t it make your paw tired holding it 
so long?” 

Now Dickie wasn’t a bit tired, but all the 
same he pretended that his paw was nearly 
broken in two, holding the popper so long. 

‘‘ I’ll hold it for you,” offered Beula. 

So Dickie let his little sister pop the rest 
of the corn, and when it was all done and 
piled up in the middle of the table he sug- 
gested that they boil some molasses candy 
and make popcorn balls. 

“ Maybe Mother Whiteface would scold,” 
said Beula. 

Oh, she won’t if we’re careful and clean 
everything up when we’re through,” replied 
Dickie. 


THE POPCORN STORY 


235 



}> 


“ SHE FOUND HIM STANDING IN FRONT OF THE STOVE 


236 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

So they got out the molasses jug and made 
enough molasses candy to coat all the pop- 
corn so that they could shape it into balls. 
And just as they got through and had every- 
thing cleaned up they heard the latch on the 
front gate click. 

‘‘ Oh, dear, ” gasped Beula, ‘‘ here comes 
Mother Whiteface, and I just know she’ll 
scold!” 

‘‘ Let’s carry them into the parlor until we 
can take them upstairs,” said Dickie. 

So when Mother Whiteface came into the 
house the plate of popcorn balls was sitting 
in the parlor on a chair, and from the way 
Dickie and Beula looked you would have 
thought that they didn’t even know what a 
popcorn ball looked like. 

But the funny part of it was that Mother 
Whiteface had a visitor with her. As she 


THE POPCORN STORY 


^ 2>7 


was coming into the yard Miss Prim, the 
pussycat lady, happened to be passing and 
Mother Whiteface asked her in for a little 
while to show her some knitting. 

And, would you believe it, when they 
went into the parlor Miss Prim sat right 
down on that plate of popcorn balls before 
Mother Whiteface could roll up the blinds 
to make it lighter. 

‘‘Mercy goodness! ” cried Miss Prim, as 
she jumped out of the chair, “ what in the 
world have I sat on‘?” And when she 
looked around at herself there were three big 
sticky molasses popcorn balls hanging on the 
back of her skirt. 

“ Isn't it dreadful with those children," 
said Mother Whiteface. “ They have made 
popcorn balls and hidden them in here on 
the chair ! " 


238 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Many pussycat ladies would have been 
very cross about sitting down on popcorn 
balls but Miss Prim wasn’t one of that kind. 
The more she thought about it the more she 
laughed, and before she left she begged 
Mother Whiteface not to punish her two lit- 
tle puppies. 

‘‘ ril not punish them this time,” promised 
Mother Whiteface. 

Nor did she; but, when Miss Prim left. 
Mother Whiteface sent every one of those 
big molasses popcorn balls along with her to 
give to the poor Dobbie children. 

And no doubt if Dickie and Beula had not 
tried to hide the popcorn balls and had told 
Mother Whiteface about making them while 
she was away they would have them to eat 
themselves. 

And that’s all. 


XVIII 


THE GARDEN STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway • 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around with a fence in front to 
shut it in. It was here the pussycat mothers 



239 


240 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

lived together with their little kitty chil- 
dren. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It was 
here the doggie mothers lived together with 
their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the sanie as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

Farmer Brisk, the farmer doggie, who 


THE GARDEN STORY 


241 


lived a short distance from Kittyway Lane, 
was busy working in his garden one day, set- 
ting out some peach-trees, when along came 
Buster Cuddles, the little kitty boy. 

“ How’s the little kitty man this morn- 
ing?” greeted the good-natured farmer 
doggie, as he carefully placed one of the lit- 
tle trees into a hole he had made. 

‘‘ All right,” answered Buster, as he 
climbed up on the top rail of the fence to 
watch Farmer Brisk at work. 

“ Do you know what Fm doing? ” asked 
Farmer Brisk, as he filled a little hole with 
earth and then pressed it down firmly around 
the little tree. 

I guess you’re planting trees,” replied 
the little kitty boy. 

‘‘ Yes, sir, Fm planting some peach-trees 
so that after a few years Fll have enough 


242 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

peaches for the pussycat mothers to give to 
little kitty boys like you.” 

“Um-m-m-m!” went Buster, smacking 
his lips just as though he was already tast- 
ing one of those big, juicy, red and yellow- 
cheeked peaches. 

Now it seemed to Buster as though the lit- 
tle trees that Farmer Brisk was planting 
would never grow at all. He did not know 
that the tiny buds sticking out along the 
branches would burst forth into green leaves 
shortly after the tree was planted. 

“ How will your trees grow,” he asked, 
finally, “ when they’re dead before you 
plant them? ” 

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” roared Farmer Brisk, 
laughing so hard that his ears shook. 
“ What makes you think they’re dead? ” he 
asked, after he was done laughing. 


THE GARDEN STORY 


243 


’Cause they have no leaves,” explained 
Buster, “ all the other trees are getting 
them.” 

So will these after a bit,” said Farmer 
Brisk, “ all they need is a little time to 
grow.” 

Well, anyway, when Farmer Brisk was 
through planting his peach-trees he had one 
little tree left over and no place to plant it. 
First he looked at the little peach-tree and 
then he looked at Buster. 

'' How would you like to take this home 
and plant it? ” he asked him. 

'' Oh, Farmer Brisk,” exclaimed Buster 
with delight, ‘'may I?” 

And when the farmer doggie nodded his 
head yes Buster was so pleased that he 
hardly knew what to say. After thanking 
Farmer Brisk, and learning all about how to 


244 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

make it grow, he started for home with the 
precious little tree clasped tight in his paws. 

When he got there the first thing to de- 
cide upon was where to plant it, so he asked 
Mother Cuddles. 

How about putting it near the chicken 
house so that when it gets big it will make 
a shady spot for the chickens on warm days,” 
she suggested. 

So Buster got his spade, and, after digging 
a hole, planted his little tree near one cor- 
ner of the chicken house. And for days 
after that he watched and tended the little 
sprout until it was full of pretty green 
leaves just as Farmer Brisk had told him. 

Some time after that, while Buster was 
taking a walk one day down Kittyway Lane, 
he came to Mrs. Proudpuss’s home, and the 
first thing he spied through the iron fence 


THE GARDEN STORY 


245 





PLANTED HIS LITTLE TREE NEAR ONE CORNER OF THE 
CHICKEN HOUSE ” 









246 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

in front of the rich pussycat lady’s lawn was 
a little round flower bed full of the prettiest 
flowers he had ever seen. And the first 
thing he thought about was how nice it 
would be to make Mother Cuddles one just 
like it. 

In one corner of their yard at home was a 
big flower bush covered with clusters of 
pretty blue flowers and Mother Cuddles had 
often wished that she could set it out in the 
middle of the yard. And the little kitty boy 
planned to make a flower bed for Mother 
Cuddles just like the one on Mrs. Proud- 
puss’s lawn, with the pretty blue flower stalk 
right in the middle of it. 

That same afternoon Mother Cuddles had 
some shopping to do, so she told Buster and 
Betty to stay around the house until she 
came back. 


THE GARDEN STORY 


247 


As soon as she had gone out the front gate 
Buster got his spade and started to dig a 
round hole right in the middle of the front 
yard. 

Oh, Buster,” gasped Betty, “ you’d bet- 
ter not! ” 

I’m going to make a flower bed,” ex- 
plained Buster, “ and how can you do it if 
you don’t dig a hole first? ” 

‘‘Oh-h-h!” went Betty, making a little 
round O of a mouth. 

In a little while Buster had the flower bed 
all done except putting the sod around the 
outside. He had built up a little mound of 
earth and in the middle of it he placed the 
pretty plant with the blue flowers. 

Now if Laddie Rover had stayed away 
Buster would have had the flower bed all 
sodded long before Mother Cuddles re- 


24S THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

turned. But when Betty had gone into the 
house for a few minutes along came Laddie, 
and the first thing he asked his little kitty 
playmate was whether he would go along to 
play ball. 

‘‘ Why — I guess — I’d better finish — ” 
hesitated Buster, looking at the place where 
the sod ought to be. But just then he hap- 
pened to think how much more fun it would 
be to play ball. ‘‘ Sure, I’ll go,” he cried, 
suddenly, “ I’ll be there right away! ” 

So when Betty came out into the yard 
again Buster was gone. 

'‘Oh, dear!” sighed his little kitty sister, 
" why didn’t he stay and finish it? It would 
have looked so pretty to Mother Cuddles.” 

Buster had made up his mind to get back 
in time to finish the flower bed before 
Mother Cuddles arrived, but the game took 


THE GARDEN STORY 249 

longer than he thought, and just as he was 
going to the front gate he saw Mother Cud- 
dles coming down the street. 

The first thing he did was to glance at his 
little flower bed, and, would you believe it, 
the whole thing was sodded as nicely as you 
please ! 

Yes, sir, Betty had done it all after he had 
left to play ball. So it was no wonder he 
squeezed her little paw on the sly and whis- 
pered to her that she was the best little sis- 
ter a kitty chap ever had. 

But when Mother Cuddles praised him 
for making such a pretty little flower bed he 
began to feel very uncomfortable, and that 
night before he went to sleep he told her all 
about it. 

And that’s all. 


XIX 

THE DOLL STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
street called Kittyway 

Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around it with a fence in front 
to shut it in. It was here the pussycat 



250 


THE DOLL STORY 


251 


mothers lived together with their little kitty 
children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

Betty Cuddles, the little kitty girl who 


252 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

lived with her little kitty brothers and sis- 
ters in one of the little brick houses on 
Kittyway Lane, sat rocking herself in her 
little rocking chair. And tightly clasped in 
her paws was her little doll, Arabella. 

‘‘ Now, Arabella,” said Betty to her dolly, 
‘'I want you to keep your dress nice and 
clean so that I can take you to the festival 
to-night.” There was to be a festival that 
evening down at the school grounds and 
Mother Cuddles was going to take all her 
little kitty children. And Betty had made 
up her mind to take Arabella. 

'' Maybe you had better take a little nap 
so that you won’t be sleepy this evening,” 
the little kitty girl told her dolly. So she 
cuddled Arabella’s little head against her 
shoulder and sang a little lullaby while she 
rocked to and fro. 


THE DOLL STORY 


253 



<( 




ROCKING HERSELF IN HER LITTLE ROCKING CHAIR 


254 the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

“ Rock-a-bye dolly on the tree-top. 

When the wind blows the cradle will rock, 
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall 
And down will come dolly, cradle and all.” 

There,” said the little kitty mother, 

she’s sound asleep, so I’ll just lay her in 
her cradle and let her sleep all afternoon.” 

So Betty put Arabella in her cradle and 
pushed the cradle under the dining-room 
table. 

Mother Cuddles always kept a pitcher of 
ice water on the table in the summer time, 
and Betty had hardly left the room before in 
raced her little kitty brother, Buster, look- 
ing for a drink. 

He had just got through playing a game 
of ball and was hot and thirsty. And he 
was in such a hurry to get a drink that he 
slopped the water out of the pitcher all over 


THE DOLL STORY 


255 


the table-cloth and down on poor little Ara- 
bella. 

So that when Betty came to get her before 
she left for the festival the dolly’s dress was 
all wet down the front. 

You naughty little dolly! ” cried Betty, 

just look at your dress ! ” 

And, of course, poor little Arabella 
couldn’t tell who’s fault it had been. 

You’ll just have to stay at home,” Betty 
told her, and the next time you’ll learn to 
be more careful.” 

So when Betty started off to the festival 
with her little brothers and sisters, Arabella 
had to stay at home. 

'' I just wonder how it happened,” thought 
the little kitty girl, as she went trudging 
along holding fast to Mother Cuddles’s paw. 

And Mother Cuddles must have been won- 


256 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

dering about something, too, for all of a sud- 
den she asked her little kitty children which 
one had spilt water on the table-cloth that 
afternoon. 

“ I did,” said Buster, it just flopped out 
of the top and went all over the cloth and 
some of it splashed down on Betty’s 
doll.” 

‘‘Oh-h-h-h!” went Betty just like that. 
To think she had punished Arabella for 
something she hadn’t done! 

And that evening at the festival Betty 
kept thinking of her dolly home in bed. 
And she felt so sorry that she hadn’t brought 
her along. 

As soon as she got home she took her out 
of the cradle and hugged her as tight as she 
could hug her. 

‘‘ It wasn’t your fault at all that your dress 


THE DOLL STORY 


257 


was wet,” she whispered in her doll’s ear, 
“ and the next time I go away I’ll be sure 
to take you along.” 

Well, one morning, a few days after that. 
Mother Cuddles had nothing for Betty to 
do, so the little kitty girl asked her if she 
might take Arabella out for a walk. And 
Mother Cuddles said she might. 

So she ran upstairs as fast as she could go 
and caught her little dolly up out of the 
cradle. 

Oh, Arabella,” she cried, happily, '' just 
think, we’re going for a long walk! ” And 
the little dolly seemed to be every bit as 
pleased as her little kitty mother. 

I know where we’ll go,” said Betty, as 
they went out through the front gate, ‘‘ we’ll 
walk down to the duck pond.” 

On the way down Kittyway Lane the first 


258 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

one of the animal folks they met was Miss 
Prim, the pussycat lady. 

“ Well, I declare,” smiled Miss Prim, 
“ if it isn’t Betty Cuddles and her little 
dolly! ” 

“ Dolly’s name is Arabella,” Betty told 
her. 

“Why, how do you do, Arabella?” said 
Miss Prim, as she shook the little dolly by the 
hand. “ I’m very glad to know you.” And 
by the look on Arabella’s face she seemed 
just as pleased to meet Miss Prim. 

“ We’re going to take a walk down to the 
duck pond,” said Betty. 

“ Won’t that be nice! ” replied the pussy- 
cat lady. 

Well, it wasn’t very long after that when 
Betty and her dolly reached the duck pond. 
And when they got there who should they 


THE DOLL STORY 259 

see sitting on the bank but Sminky Crow, the 
little kitty boy. 

Sminky had a little flat piece of wood tied 
to a string and was sailing it on top of the 
water. And as all little ships sail with a 
cargo he had placed a number of little round 
stones on top. 

‘‘ Hello, Betty! ” he crowed, as soon as he 
caught sight of the little kitty girl. 

Hello! ” answered Betty, a little doubt- 
fully. Sminky was that very same little 
kitty boy who often played tricks on his play- 
mates, and Betty was not quite sure that he 
wouldn’t try to play one on her. 

‘‘ Let’s give your dolly a boat ride,” sug- 
gested Sminky, as he pulled in his little 
wooden ship. 

‘'Oh, I’d be afraid!” cried Betty, “she 
might upset and drown.” 


26 o the SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

“ Not if you’re careful,” said Sminky. 
‘‘ You can take hold of the string yourself; 
and, if you want to, you can stand on that 
flat rock near shore and she’ll float way, way 
out.” 

So Betty placed Arabella very carefully 
on top of the little piece of wood, and taking 
hold of the string jumped out on the little 
flat rock. 

And I feel sure that Arabella must have 
had a dandy little boat ride and that every- 
thing would have ended pleasantly if a lit- 
tle puff of wind hadn’t come rollicking over 
the top of the water. No doubt it was one 
of the merry little breezes out for a lark. 

And it wasn’t a bit nice of it to upset the 
little boat and throw Arabella into the 
water. 

'' Oh, my dolly! ” screamed Betty. 


THE DOLL STORY 


261 


ril save her! ” shouted Sminky. 

And, sure enough, in he waded up to his 
waist, clothes and all, and pulled poor little 
Arabella out of the water. 

So, you see, Sminky wasn’t always a bad 
little kitty chap, and I feel sure that he felt 
a great deal prouder rescuing Arabella than 
if he had played a mean trick on some one. 

For on the way home Betty thanked him 
over and over again, and it surely must be 
nicer to be thanked for doing something like 
that than to be disliked for doing something 
mean. 

And that’s all. 


XX 


THE MOUSE AND THE PICTURE 
STORY 

NCE upon a time there 
was a little town in 
Animal Land called 
Kittycat Town. And 
right through the mid- 
dle of Kittycat Town 
ran a pretty little street called Kittyway 
Lane. 

On one side of Kittyway Lane was a row 
of tiny houses and all of them were built of 
little red bricks. And each little house had 
a little yard around with a fence in front to 
shut it in. It was here the pussycat mothers 

262 



THE MOUSE AND THE PICTURE STORY 263 

lived together with their little kitty children. 

On the other side of Kittyway Lane was 
another row of tiny houses and they, too, 
were built of little red bricks. And the lit- 
tle yards around them were just the same 
with a fence in front to shut them in. It 
was here the doggie mothers lived together 
with their little puppy children. 

Now these little kitty and puppy children 
lived just the same as the little boys and 
girls do here. The little animal boys wore 
bloomers and the little animal girls wore 
dresses. And they went to school, and 
played games, and got into mischief, just the 
same as all other little boys and girls. And 
sometimes they were good and sometimes 
they were naughty. 

Mother Bowser, the doggie mother, who 
lived in one of the little brick houses on 


264 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

Kittyway Lane, had given her little puppy 
girl, Curly, a box of paints on her birthday, 
and you can imagine how pleased she was. 
And, besides that, Jackie, her little puppy 
brother, had made her an easel out of some 
little sticks of wood to fasten the pieces of 
cardboard on so that she could sit on her little 
stool right in front of it and paint pictures 
just like a real doggie artist. 

The first picture she painted was a big 
apple. First she drew an outline of it on 
the cardboard and then colored it with her 
paints. The one half of it she painted a 
bright rosy red and the other half a golden 
yellow. And the little stem at the top she 
painted brown, with a little green leaf fas- 
tened to the stem. 

Isn’t it pretty ” she asked Mother Bow- 
ser, after it was all done, 


THE MOUSE AND THE PICTURE STORY 265 

“It’s too pretty for anything,” praised 
Mother Bowser, “ It looks real enough to 
eat.” 

' The next picture I paint will be a 
pretty house,” Curly told Mother Bow- 
ser. 

“ A really truly house,” asked Mother 
Bowser, “ with a yard and a fence and a big 
tree? ” 

“ Oh, yes, it has to have a yard and a fence 
and a big tree,” replied Curly, “ and a chim- 
ney on top of the roof with the smoke com- 
ing out.” 

“Won’t that be fine?” smiled Mother 
Bowser. 

So the very first chance she had. Curly 
fastened a nice clean piece of cardboard on 
her easel and started in to paint a little 
house. And, of course, the longer she 


266 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

worked at it the more it began to look like 
a really truly house. 

The little house had a door in front to go 
in and out of and a little window alongside 
of it to look out of. And on top of the roof 
was a little chimney with the smoke coming 
out just as she had told Mother Bowser. 

“ Now ril have to make a fence to shut 
in the yard,” planned Curly to herself, “ or 
else some bad little puppy boys might pull 
the apples off the apple-tree.” And, of 
course, she had to paint the apple-tree, too, 
or there wouldn’t have been any apples 
there to take. 

When the picture was all done Curly took 
it off the easel and laid it face up on the 
table to dry. And right alongside of it she 
left her box of paints with the lid open. 

The next morning, as soon as she had 


THE MOUSE AND THE PICTURE STORY 267 



“ STARTED IN TO PAINT A LITTLE HOUSE ” 


268 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

eaten her breakfast, she hurried into the 
front room to get her picture so that she 
could show it to Mother Bowser. 

But just as soon as she picked it up she 
saw that something was wrong, for it was 
the funniest looking picture you ever saw in 
all your life. It just looked as though tiny 
streaks of red and yellow and green paint 
had rained all over it. 

‘‘Oh! Oh! O-h-h-h!” gasped Curly, so 
disappointed that she felt like crying. 

“It must have been Jackie! ” she almost 
sobbed. “ I didn’t think he would be so 
mean.” 

As soon as Mother Bowser saw the picture 
she felt sure that some one had been med- 
dling with it. So when Jackie had finished 
eating his breakfast she asked him whether 
he had been at Curly’s picture. 


THE MOUSE AND THE PICTURE STORY 269 

‘‘I wasn’t near it,” declared the little 
P^PPy boy. Honest and honest I wasn’t.” 

And, of course. Mother Bowser believed 
him, because, you see, none of her little 
puppy children ever told her stories. 

‘'It couldn’t have been Jackie,” she told 
Curly, “ so we’ll have to keep our eyes 
open and maybe we can find out who did 
it.” 

And, would you believe it, the very next 
day when Mother Bowser went into the 
front room she heard a sudden squeak right 
at her feet and there was a saucy little mouse 
scampering across the room. 

“There!” she exclaimed, “I know now 
who spoiled Curly’s picture ! ” 

“ You can see for yourself how it hap- 
pened,” she said to Curly after she had 
called her little puppy girl into the room, 


270 THE SANDMAN: HIS ANIMAL STORIES 

“ You left your paint box open and the 
mouse got his feet all covered with the wet 
paint. Then he went scampering back and 
forth across your picture and wherever he 
put his feet he left a mark.’’ 

‘'That’s just what he did!” declared 
Curly, “ and maybe if I tell Jackie he’ll be 
able to catch him.” 

“ Maybe he will,” answered Mother 
Bowser. 

So the little puppy girl hurried off to find 
Jackie and when she got to the kitchen there 
he sat at the table eating a piece of pie. 

“ Oh, Jackie! ” she cried, “ what do you 
think? A bad old mouse walked all over 
my picture and spoiled it! ” 

“And — and Jackie,” she went on, “I 
thought at first it was you but it wasn’t at 
all. And please, Jackie,” she begged, “ you 


THE MOUSE AND THE PICTURE STORY 27 1 

won’t be cross at me for thinking it was you, 
will you?” 

And Jackie not only wasn’t a bit cross 
about it but he at once offered to catch that 
bad old mouse. 

‘‘ Do you think you can? ” asked his lit- 
tle puppy sister, eagerly. ‘‘ Let’s get after 
him right away! ” 

“ First of all,” said Jackie, ‘‘ we’ll have to 
find out where he lives. Maybe there’s a 
hole in the pantry wall where he runs in and 
out.” 

And, sure enough, when they moved the 
things in the pantry they found a little hole 
in the wall right near the floor. 

‘‘ That’s the door of his house,” Jackie 
told her, ‘‘ and, like as not he’s at home now 
waiting until everything is quiet so that he 
can come out and go snooping around. If 


272 THE SANDMAN: HiS ANIMAL STORIES 

you’ll ask Mother Bowser for a piece of 
cheese I’ll show you how to fool him.” 

When Curly returned with the piece of 
cheese Jackie placed it on the floor right 
near the little hole in the wall. 

There,” he declared, ‘‘ as soon as Mr. 
Mouse smells that he’ll be out after it.” 

“But how will you catch him?” asked 
Curly. 

“ I’ll just hit him a whack with the 
broom,” answered Jackie. 

“ Maybe — maybe — ” began Curly, 
“ maybe I’d better go into another room un- 
til after you whack him.” 

Of course you know that little girls are 
always more afraid of a mouse than little 
boys, so Jackie got his little sister a stool to 
stand on so that the mouse couldn’t reach 
her. 


THE MOUSE AND THE PICTURE STORY 2y^ 

'' Now keep still,” he told her, ‘‘ and very 
soon you’ll see him.” 

Sure enough hardly a minute had passed 
before a little brown head was stuck out of 
the hole and a twinkling pair of little brown 
eyes looked all around the room. And then 
out popped Mr. Mouse to grab the cheese. 

Whack! Whack! went Buster’s broom. 

‘‘We got him! We got him!” shouted 
both little puppies as they raced for the 
kitchen to tell Mother Bowser how they had 
captured the mouse. 

And that’s all of this book. 





Selections from 
The Page Company’s 
Books for Young People 

THE BLUE BONNET SERIES 

Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 
per volume . . . . . . , $1.50 

A TEXAS BLUE BONNET 

By Caroline E. Jacobs, 

“ The book’s heroine. Blue Bonnet, has the very finest 
kind of wholesome, honest, lively girlishness and cannot 
but make friends with every one who meets her through 
the book as medium .” — Chicago Inter-Ocean. 

BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY 

By Caroline E. Jacobs and Edyth Ellerbeck Read. 
“ A healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every 
chapter .” — Boston Transcript. 

BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON 5 Or, Boarding- 
School Days at Miss North’s. 

By Caroline E. Jacobs and Lela Horn Richards. 
“It is a fine story for girls, and is bound to become 
popular because of its wholesomeness and its many 
human touches .” — Boston Globe. 

BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE; Or, The 

New Home in the East. 

By Caroline E. Jacobs and Lela Horn Richards. 
“It cannot fail to prove fascinating to girls in their 
teens, not to mention those of older growth, who still 
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A— 1 


THE PAGE COMPANY’S 


THE YOUNG PIONEER SERIES 

By Harrison Adams 

Each 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
volume $1.25 

THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE OHIO; Or, 

Clearing the Wilderness. 

“ Such books as this are an admirable means of stimu- 
lating among the young Americans of to-day interest in 
the story of their pioneer ancestors and the early days of 
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THE PIONEER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES ; 

Or, On the Trail of the Iroquois. 

“ The recital of the daring deeds of the frontier is not 
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THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSISSIPPI; 

Or, The Homestead in the Wilderness. 

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Or, In the Country of the Sioux. 

“ Vivid in style, vigorous in movement, full of dramatic 
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City. 

THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE YELLOW- 
STONE; Or, Lost in the Land of Wonders. 

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THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLUMBIA; 

Or, In the Wilderness of the Great Northwest. 

“ The story is full of spirited action and contains much 
valuable historical information .” — Boston Herald, 

A—g 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE HADLEY HALL SERIES 

By Louise M. Breitenbach 
Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
volume $1.50 

ALMA AT HADLEY HALL 

“ The author is to be congratulated on having written 
such an appealing book for girls.” — Detroit Free Press. 

ALMA’S SOPHOMORE YEAR 

“ It cannot fail to appeal to the lovers of good things 
in girls’ books.” — Boston Herald. 

ALMA’S JUNIOR YEAR 

“ The diverse characters in the boarding-school are 
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ALMA’S SENIOR YEAR 

“Incident abounds in all of Miss Breitenbach’s stories 
and a healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every 
chapter .” — Boston Transcript. 

THE GIRLS OF 
FRIENDLY TERRACE SERIES 

By Harriet Lummis Smith 
Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 
per volume $1.60 

THE GIRLS OF FRIENDLY TERRACE 

“ A book sure to please girl readers, for the author seems 
to understand perfectly the girl character.” — Boston 
Globe. 

PEGGY RAYMOND’S VACATION 

“It is a wholesome, hearty story .” — Utica Observer, 

SCHOOL DAYS ON FRIENDLY TERRACE 

The book is delightfully written, and contains lots of 
exciting incidents. 

PEGGY RAYMOND’S SCHOOL DAYS 

The book is delightfully written, and contains lots of exciting 
incidents. 

A— $ 


THE PAGE COMPANrS 


FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES 

By Charles H. L. Johnston 
Each large 12mo, cloth dc ')rative, illustrated, per 

volume $1.50 

FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS 

‘‘ More of such books should be written, books that 
acquaint young readers »vith historical personages in a 
pleasant, informal way.” — New York Sun. 

“ It is a book that will stir the heart of every boy and 
will prove interesting as well to the adults.” — Lawrence 
Daily World. 

FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS 

“ Mr. Johnston has done faithful work in this volume, 
and his relation of battles, sieges and struggles of these 
famous Indians with the whites for the possession of 
America is a worthy addition to United States History.” 
— New York Marine Journal. 

FAMOUS SCOUTS 

“ It is the kind of a book that will have a great fascina- 
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it will also present valuable information in regard to 
those who have left their impress upon the history of the 
country.” — The New London Day. 

FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN AND ADVEN- 
TURERS OF THE SEA 

“ The tales are more than merely interesting; they are 
entrancing, stirring the blood with thrilling force and 
bringing new zest to the never-ending interest in the 
dramas of the sea.” — The Pittsburgh Post. 

FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN AND HEROES 
OF THE BORDER 

This book is devoted to a description of the adventur- 
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“ The accounts are not only authentic, but distinctly 
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the history of actual adventure.” — Cleveland Leader, 
A— 4 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


HILDEGARDE- MARGARET SERIES 

By Laura E. Richards 
Eleven Volumes 

The Hildegarde-Margaret Series, beginning with 
* Queen Hildegarde ” and ending with “ The Merry- 
weathers,” make one of the best and most popular series 
of books for girls ever written. 

Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, 
per volume ....... $ 1.25 

The eleven volumes boxed as a set . . . $ 13.75 

LIST OF TITLES 

QUEEN HILDEGARDE 

HILDEGARDE ’S HOLIDAY 

HILDEGARDE’S HOME 

HILDEGARDE’S NEIGHBORS 

HILDEGARDE’S HARVEST 

THREE MARGARETS 

MARGARET MONTFORT 

PEGGY 

RITA 

FERNLEY HOUSE 

THE MERRYWEATHERS 

A— S 


THE PAGE COMP ANTS 


THE CAPTAIN JANUARY SERIES 

By Laura E. Richards 
Each 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
volume ....... 50 cents 

CAPTAIN JANUARY 

A charming idyl of New England coast life, whose 
success has been very remarkable. 

SAME. Illustrated Holiday Edition . . $1.25 

SAME, French Text. Illustrated Holiday 
Edition . $1.25 

MELODY: The Story of a Child. 

SAME. Illustrated Holiday Edition . . $1.25 

MARIE 

A companion to “Melody” and “Captain January.” 

ROSIN THE BEAU 

A sequel to “ Melody ” and “ Marie.” 

SNOW-WHITE; Or, The House in the Wood. 

JIM OF HELLAS ; Or, In Durance Vile, and 
a companion story, Bethesda Pool. 

NARCISSA 

And a companion story, In Verona, being two de- 
lightful short stories of New England life. 

“SOME SAY»» 

And a companion story, Neighbors in Cyrus. 

NAUTILUS 

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ISLA HERON 

This interesting story is written in the author’s usual 
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THE LITTLE MASTER 

“ A well told, interesting tale of a high character.”— 
California Gateway Gazette, 

A— 6 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


DELIGHTFUL BOOKS FOR LITTLE 
FOLKS 

By Laura E. Richards 

THREE MINUTE STORIES 

Cloth decorative, 12mo, with eight plates in full color 
and many text illustrations by Josephine Bruce. 

Net $1.25; carriage paid $1.40 
“ Little ones will understand and delight in the stories 
and poems.” — Indianapolis News. 

FIVE MINUTE STORIES 

Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated . $1.25 
A charming collection of short stories and clever poems 
for children. 

MORE FIVE MINUTE STORIES 

Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated . $1.25 
A noteworthy collection of short stories and poems 
for children, which will prove as popular with mothers 
as with boys and girls. 

FIVE MICE IN A MOUSE TRAP 

Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated . $1.25 

The story of their lives and other wonderful things 
related by the Man in the Moon, done in the vernacular 
from the lunacular form by Laura E. Richards. 

WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE 

Cloth, 8vo, illustrated . . . • . $1.25 

The title most happily introduces the reader to the 
charming home life of Doctor Howe and Mrs. Julia 
Ward Howe, during the childhood of the author. 

A HAPPY LITTLE TIME 

Cloth, 8vo, illustrated . . • ; , 

Little Betty and the happy time she had will appeal 
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have this story read to them, and appeal all the more 
on account of its being such a “ real ” story. 

A— 7 


THE PAGE COMPANY’S 


THE BOYS’ STORY OF THE 
RAILROAD SERIES 

. . By Burton E. Stevenson 

Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
volume $1.50 

THE YOUNG SECTION - HAND ; Or, The Ad- 
ventures OF Allan West. 

“ A thrilling story, well told, clean and bright. The 
whole range of section railroading is covered in the story, 
and it contains information as well as interest.” — Chicago 
Post. 

THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER 

“ A vivacious account of the varied and often hazard- 
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in which the author has woven admirable advice about 
honesty, manliness, self-culture, good reading, and the 
secrets of success.” — Congregationalist. 

THE YOUNG TRAIN MASTER 

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anyone who loves a good, wholesome, thrilhng, informing 
yarn.” — Passaic News. 

THE YOUNG APPRENTICE; Or, Allan West’s 
Chum. 

“ The story is intensely interesting, and one gains an 
intimate knowledge of the methods and works in the 
great car shops not easily gained elsewhere.” — Baltimore 
Sun. 

“ It appeals to every boy of enterprising spirit, and at 
the same time teaches him some valuable lessons in honor, 
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“ The lessons that the books teach in development of 
uprightness, honesty and true manly character are sure 
to appeal to the reader.” — The American Bov. 

A— 8 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS 

(Trade Mark) 

By Annie Fellows Johnston 
Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume . $1.50 
THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES 

(Trade Mark) 

Being three “ Little Colonel ” stories in the Cosy Corner 
Series, “ The Little Colonel,” “ Two Little Knights of 
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THE LITTLE COLONEL’S HOUSE PARTY 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL’S HOLIDAYS 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL’S HERO 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING- 

(Trade Mark) 

SCHOOL 

THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL’S CHRISTMAS 

(Trade Mark) 

VACATION 

THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOR 

(Trade Mark) 

THE LITTLE COLONEL’S KNIGHT COMES 

(Trade Mark) 

RIDING 

MARY WARE: THE LITTLE COLONEL’S 

(Trade Mark) 

CHUM 

MARY WARE IN TEXAS 
MARY WARE’S PROMISED LAND 

These twelve volumes, boxed os a set, $18.00. 

A— 9 


THE HAGE COMFANTS 


SPECIAL HOLIDAY EDITIONS 

Each small quarto, cloth decorative, per volume . $1.25 

New plates, handsomely illustrated with eight full-page 
drawings in color, and many marginal sketches. 

THE LITTLE COLONEL 

(Trade Mark) 

TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY 
THE GIANT SCISSORS 
BIG BROTHER 

THE JOHNSTON JEWEL SERIES 

Each small 16mo, cloth decorative, with frontispiece 

and decorative text borders, per volume . Net $0.50 

IN THE DESERT OF WAITING: The Legend 
OF Camelback Mountain. 

THE THREE WEAVERS: A Fairy Tale for 
Fathers and Mothers as Well as for Their 
Daughters. 

KEEPING TRYST: A Tale of King Arthur’s 
Time. 

THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART 
THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME: 

A Fairy Play for Old and Young. 

THE JESTER’S SWORD 


THE LITTLE COLONEL’S GOOD TIMES 
BOOK 

Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series . $1.50 

Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold . i Net 3.00 
Cover design and decorations by Peter Verberg. 

“ A mighty attractive volume in which the owner may 
record the good times she has on decorated pages, and 
under the directions as it were of Annie Fellows John- 
ston.” — Buffalo Express, 

A— 10 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE LITTLE COLONEL DOLL BOOK — 
First Series 

Quarto, boards, printed in colors . , , $1.50 

A series of “ Little Colonel ” dolls. Each has several 
changes of costume, so they can be appropriately clad 
for the rehearsal of any scene or incident in the series. 

THE LITTLE COLONEL DOLL BOOK- 
Second Series 

Quarto, boards, printed in colors . . . $1.50 

An artistic series of paper dolls, including not only 
lovable Mary Ware, the Little Colonel’s chum, but many 
another of the much loved characters which appear in 
the last three volumes of the famous “ Little Colonel 
Series.” 

ASA HOLMES 

By Annie Fellows Johnston. 

With a frontispiece by Ernest Fosbery. 

16mo, cloth decorative, gilt top . . . $1.00 

“ ‘ Asa Holmes ’ is the most delightful, most syrnpa- 
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long while.” — Boston Times. 

TRAVELERS FIVE: ALONG LIFE'S HIGH- 
WAY 

By Annie Fellows Johnston. 

With an introduction by Bliss Carman, and a frontis- 
piece by E. H. Garrett. 

12mo, cloth decorative . . . ; u’ i 

“ Mrs. Johnston broadens her reputation with this book 
BO rich in the significance of common things.’ — Boston 
Advertiser. 

JOEL: A BOY OF GALILEE 

By Annie Fellows Johnston. 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . • • 50 

“ The book is a very clever handling of the great^t 
event in the history of the world.” Rochester, N, F., 
Herald. 

A— 11 


THE PAGE COMPANY’S 


THE BOYS’ STORY OF THE ARMY 
SERIES 

By Florence Kimball Russel 

BORN TO THE BLUE 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.25 

“ The story deserves warm commendation and genuine 
popularity.” — Army and Navy Register, 

IN WEST POINT GRAY 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

“ One of the best books that deals with West Point.” — 
New York Sun. 

FROM CHEVRONS TO SHOULDER- 
STRAPS 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

“ The life of a cadet at West Point is nortrayed very 
realistically.” — The Hartford Post, Hartford, Conn. 

DOCTOR’S LITTLE GIRL SERIES 

By Marion Ames Taggart 

Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume, $1.50 

THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE GIRL 

“ A charming story of the ups and downs of the life 
of a dear little maid.” — The Churchman. 

SWEET NANCY: The Further Adventures of 
THE Doctor’s Little Girl. 

“ J list the sort of book to amuse, while its influence 
cannot but be elevating.” — New York Sun. 

NANCY, THE DOCTOR’S LITTLE PARTNER 

“ The story is sweet and fascinating, such as many 
girls of wholesome tastes will enjoy.” — Springfield Union. 

NANCY PORTER’S OPPORTUNITY 

“ Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young 
woman, with plenty of pluck.” — Boston Globe. 

NANCY AND THE COGGS TWINS 

“ The story is refreshing.” — New York Sun. 

A — 12 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


WORKS OF EVALEEN STEIN 

THE CHRISTMAS PORRINGER 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by Adelaide 

Everhart $1.25 

This story happened many hundreds of years ago in 
the quaint Flemish city of Bruges and concerns a little 
girl named Karen, who worked at lace-making with her 
aged grandmother. 

GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK 

Small quarto, cloth decorative, illustrated and 
decorated in colors by Adelaide Everhart . . $1.00 

“No works in juvenile fiction contain so many of the 
elements that stir the hearts of children and grown-ups as 
well as do the stories so admirably told by this author.’* 

— Louisville Daily Courier. 

A LITTLE SHEPHERD OF PROVENCE 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by Diantha 

H. Marlowe . . $1.25 

“ The story should be one of the influences in the life 
of every child to whom good stories can be made to 
appeal.” — Public Ledger. 

THE LITTLE COUNT OF NORMANDY 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by John Goss $1 . 25 
“ This touching and pleasing story is told with a wealth 
of interest coupled with enlivening descriptions of the- 
country where its scenes are laid and of the people thereof.” 

— Wilmington Every Evening. 


ELEANOR OF THE HOUSEBOAT 

By Louise M. Breitenbach. 

12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 

An unusually interesting story of how Eleanor Tracy 
spent a wonderful summer on a houseboat. 

A— 13 


THE PAGE COMPANY’S 


HISTORICAL BOOKS 

THE BOYS OF ’6l ; Or, Four Years of Fighting. 
By Charles Carletok Coffin. 

Standard Edition. An entirely new edition, cloth deco- 
rative, 8vo, with nearly two hundred illustrations, $2.00 
Popular Edition. Cloth decorative, 12mo, with eight 
illustrations . . . . . . . $1.00 

A record of personal observation with the Army and 
Navy, from the Battle of Bull Run to the fall of Rich- 
mond. 

THE BOYS OF 1812 J And Other Naval Heroes. 
By James Russell Soley. 

Cloth decorative, 8vo, illustrated . . . $2.00 

“ The book is full of stirring incidents and adven- 
tures.” — Boston Herald. 

THE SAILOR BOYS OF »6i 

By James Russell Soley. 

Cloth decorative, 8vo, illustrated . . . $2.00 

“ It is written with an enthusiasm that never allows 
the interest to slacken.” — The Call, Newark, N. J. 

BOYS OF FORT SCHUYLER 

By James Otis. 

Cloth decorative, square 12mo, illustrated . $1.25 
“ It is unquestionably one of the best historical Indian 
stories ever written.” — Boston Herald. 

FAMOUS WAR STORIES 

By Charles Carleton Coffin 
Each cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, per vol., $1.25 

WINNING HIS WAY 

A stoiy of a young soldier in the Chdl War. 

MY DAYS AND NIGHTS ON THE BAT- 
TLEFIELD 

A story of the Battle of Bull Run and other battles in 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and on the Mississippi. 

FOLLOWING THE FLAG 

A story of the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War. 
A ~14 


BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


THE SANDMAN SERIES 

By William J. Hopkins 
Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
volume 61.50 

THE SANDMAN : His Farm Stories. 

“ Mothers and fathers and kind elder sisters who take 
the little ones to bed and rack their brains for stories will 
find this book a treasure.” — Cleveland Leader. 

THE SANDMAN : More Farm Stories. 

“ Children will call for these stories over and over 
again.” — Chicago Evening Post. 

THE SANDMAN : His Ship Stories. 

“ Little ones will understand and delight in the stories 
and their parents will read between the lines and recognize 
the poetic and artistic work of the author.” — Indianap- 
olis News. 

THE SANDMAN: His Sea Stories. 

“Once upon a time there was a man who knew little 
children and the kind of stories they liked, so he wrote 
four books of Sandman’s stories, all about the farm or 
the sea, and the brig Industry, and this book is one of 
them.” — Canadian Congregationalist. 

STORIES OF NEWSBOY LIFE 

By James Otis 

Each 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
volume ........ 61.25 

JENNY WREN’S BOARDING HOUSE 

A story of newsboy life in New York. 

“ The secret of the author’s success lies in his wonder- 
ful sympathy with the aspirations of child-life, his truth- 
ful delineation of life among the children who act as his 
object lessons.” — New York Sun. 

TEDDY AND CARROTS; Or, Two Merchants 

OF Newspaper Row. 

His newsboys are real and wide-awake, and his story 
abounds with many exciting scenes and graphic incidents. 
N—U 


THE PAGE COMPANY’S 


WORKS OF 

MARSHALL SAUNDERS 

Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per 
volume $1.50 

BEAUTIFUL JOE’S PARADISE; Or, The Island 

OF Brotherly Love. A Sequel to “ Beautiful Joe.” 

“ This book revives the spirit of ‘ Beautiful Joe ’ capi- 
tally. It is fairly riotous with fun, and is about as unusual 
as anything in the animal book line that has seen the 
light.” — Philadelphia Item. 

TILDA JANE 

“ I cannot think of any better book for children than 
this. I commend it unreservedly.” — Cyrus T. Brady. 

’TILDA JANE’S ORPHANS. A Sequel to “ ’Tilda 

Jane.” 

“ It is written in the author’s best vein, and presents 
a variety of interesting characters.” — New London Day. 

TILDA JANE IN CALIFORNIA 

The story is full of life and action, and troubles, which 
lead to character building, mingled with fun and cheer- 
fulness, and is a wholesome book to put in the hands of 
girl readers. 

PUSSY BLACK-FACE: The Story op a Kitten 

AND Her Friends. 

“ This is one of Marshall Saunders’s best stories, and 
Miss Saunders has an enviable reputation as a writer of 
animal life.” — Los Angeles, Cal., Express. 

THE STORY OF THE GRAVELYS 

“ The story is full of that refinement wL.ch appeals to 
the best taste. It takes for its motto Cardinal Gibbons’s 
expression that ‘ A child’s needless tear is a blood-blot 
on this earth,’ and works out a beautiful and moving 
Btory.” — St. Louis Gloho-Democrat, 

A— 16 







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